The In Between Series 7 - Don't Explode on My Parade
by NeedtoKnow
Summary: Continuation of a Series of stories that fit "In Between" episodes that were aired so that things can be better explained/explored. This story is set in between "Service Above & Beyond" and "Saved By the Bells." Lee & Amanda must solve a puzzle to stop terrorists from ruining the annual Thanksgiving Parade while they do some clowning around themselves. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1 - Friday Night

**Disclaimer - "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" are copyrighted to Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. This story is for entertainment only. I will not make any money off it but do hope that at least some people will enjoy it. The Characters are not mine; I only took them out to play with them for a while so they could help me tell the story. All the credit goes to Bruce and Kate and their wonderful supporting staff for portraying these wonderful characters so well that so many of us still love them so much today. The additional characters and this story are mine.**

 **A/N #1 – For those who are familiar with my In Between Series, you know that I use the time to fill in holes in the episode before and then tell a story that can fit in between the aired stories of the show. Since I have made them meld into the series like they really existed, I will be using references from them in future stories. I don't think you need to read each of the stories in order to understand the story being told but hopefully you will read all of them anyway. Thanks again for all your support.**

 **Chapter 1- Friday Night**

Amanda was so glad to finally be rid of her cast. She had not had an easy time of it while she helped Lee out during the Chess Tournament so as soon as that case was over, she called her Doctor's office and got an appointment for the following day. It wasn't often they could fit a patient in on a Friday but Amanda had gotten lucky since they had just had a cancellation. Her Doctor gave her a brace to wear at night and anytime during the day when she would be doing a lot of walking or put a lot of stress on her leg but otherwise, he said it was healing nicely.

Amanda went home and picked up the boys for their baseball game. They were playing the Gators and she knew the boys were already worried about this game. They had been on a bit of a losing streak lately but this team was considered to be the worse team of the league so if they lost this afternoon, the boys would be really upset. It didn't help that Sara Trist had predicted their loss. Apparently Sara had all the power to see who won and lost games and the boys held her in high regard. Amanda knew that this was all in their heads and she had spent the last couple of days trying to encourage her sons to believe in themselves and to just do their best and that it would all work out the way it was meant to. The boys just sighed and said "We are going to lose."

Amanda knew as soon as she arrived at the field that all the boys were convinced they were going to lose so their morale was at an all-time low. No matter what she did, she couldn't get them to believe in themselves and in the end, they struggled the whole game with not even 1 run. The Gators blew by them in a 21 - 0 final score. All the Gators hugged each other at the end of the game. They had needed a victory to bring up their morale and to help them give their two female teammates a chance. The boys hadn't wanted girls on their team but when there was a shortfall of players, they had had no choice and let 2 girls join. They ended up being really good players and now having won this game, the guys realized that they had played a valuable role in their win. There would be a lot of celebrating in the days to come for the Gators and their coach hoped this win would make them realize that they could achieve great things if they tried, even with females helping.

The Bombers on the other hand felt like they had been bombed. Sara's prediction had come true and they were just annihilated by the worse team in the league. Phillip and Jamie rode back to Maplewood Drive in silence. As they entered through the front door, their Grandmother yelled out "Dinner is ready, come eat boys." They sat down and stared at their food while moving it back and forth with their forks. None of it looked appealing and they both felt like the world was crashing down around them. How could you be beat by the worse team especially when they had girls on the team? It was going to be a long night. They were thankful that their Mother let them be excused without eating. They went upstairs to their room and both laid down on their beds to relive the whole game and sulk about the outcome.

When Amanda walked in and saw her boys sitting there staring glumly at their food, she knew they were taking the loss hard but she knew they would bounce back. They were good kids. Her ankle was really killing her though and she wished that she had worn the brace to the game. Since she had been home so little, her Mother had forgotten all about her injury and questioned why she was limping. Amanda really didn't need a lecture about how little she was home these days so she just chose to explain how she had hurt it demonstrating the Hook slide in hopes of jarring her Mother's memory but it didn't seem to. Sometimes Amanda wondered if her Mother was experiencing some short term memory losses but maybe that was a good thing since lately she had had to lie so much to her.

After the boys had been excused, Dotty asked Amanda if she was seeing Dean. Amanda realized afterward that she sounded a little too happy when she told her Mother that he was out of town. She really didn't feel like spending her Friday Night with him. She had decided as she was driving back from the game that she just wanted a quiet night. She was going to pamper herself by soaking her foot, wash her hair and then curl up with that Novel that she still hadn't had time to finish. She had been so busy with the Chess Tournament case that she still didn't how Victoria Greenich was going to save her husband before he was executed and she was dying to find out. Meanwhile, she knew her Mother was going to pull out a Carey Grant Video and enjoy it by herself. Her Mother's comment about seeing the movie with Richard Gere taking his clothes off took her by surprise. Amanda remembered that when her father was alive, her Mother had been so conservative but now that Daddy was gone, her Mother seemed to be trying to spread her wings more and more.

As Amanda was limping to head upstairs, the phone rang and it was him and he actually said "hi". Of course that was because he was demanding that she cancel her plans and go with him but in looking back, she realized that he said hi. Did that mean she was finally getting Lee to have some phone manners? The jury was still out on that one. He not only told her to break her Friday night plans but then wouldn't tell her why. He just insisted that she wear something nice and meet him at 9pm by the Reflecting Pool. She was going to insist on more details but turned around and saw her Mother listening to the conversation so she cut it off. She realized that she had to come up with a cover story quickly but a last minute alumni party? Wow, her excuses were becoming more and more lame. If she stayed with the agency, she was going to have to come up with some excuses that she could use in an emergency that sounded more legitimate. She wondered how much longer her Mother was going to believe her or had she already stopped believing her?

Amanda limped upstairs and looked at her wardrobe. Lee didn't tell her where they were going to go. She wished she knew how dressy the dress should be. In the end, she decided the low cut black dress that she had worn to Prince Reza's party should be fine. She quickly got dressed and headed to the reflecting pool. Her ankle was killing her but she knew wearing the brace wouldn't look good with the dress so she had put on her high heels. It was only one night, somehow she would get through it. She found Lee by the reflecting pool but he was very distracted. She wasn't that late but he sure was acting like she was. Most men would acknowledge right away if she looked nice or was dressed appropriately, even Dean's manners seemed better than Lee's somedays. She didn't expect a compliment on her look from Lee, she just wanted to make sure that her dress would be suitable for where they were going. She also thought it would lead him to tell her where they were going but in the end, she had to ask him. Her sons would squeal if they heard that their Mother got to go to a Quickie Chickie party because they loved Quickie Chickie Snack Shack. She thought that she would be given an important role in this assignment but then Lee said she was just to be his pretend date. She remembered thinking during Reza and Penelope's Party that he probably didn't care if he went to things alone but apparently Mr. Macho was worried about his reputation, especially on a Friday night. Well at least she could go have some fun; a nice drink, some dancing and the night wouldn't be a total waste.

Lee helped her into the Porsche and drove to where the party was being held. The Valet took his car and Lee escorted Amanda to the front door. It was 9:45 so they had 15 minutes before Lee needed to meet Singer in the Men's room so he sat down with Amanda. Amanda tried to get him to talk to her but instead he kept surveying the room. She wasn't sure what he was looking for but he was definitely not paying much attention to her. She finally asked if it was okay if they danced and he said he had to go meet his contact. Amanda asked what she was supposed to do while he was gone and he said to keep having fun. She smiled at him but thought that watching chess had been almost more fun. Shortly after Lee left and Amanda put off the advances of several men, James Delano took the stage and explained that Quickie Chickie was expanding to both sides of the Berlin Wall. While he was talking, he caught her eye and she couldn't help but blush. It had been awhile since a man had looked at her like that. Once he was done speaking, he made his way over to Amanda and asked why she looked so abandoned. Amanda explained that she was with someone and she was only temporarily abandoned. He was a very charming man and knew all the right things to say. Meanwhile her evening wouldn't be a total waste of time after all.

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2 - James Delano

**Chapter 2 - James Delano**

Billy called Lee into his office just before he was ready to leave on Friday Afternoon. As Lee sat down, Billy said "Lee, we just got a call from a man who is employed by James Delano, who owns Quickie Chickie Snack Shack. As you know, we have had Agent Dane posted there as a Gardner for a couple of weeks because our sources say that something might be happening through the restaurant. Last night, Agent Dane missed his check in and we haven't heard from him since. Now this Mr. Singer calls and says he might have some information that we would be interested in."

"Did he tell you anything more?" Lee asked.

"He says that there is something happening with the East Germans and that his employer James Delano might be in the middle of it. He wants to meet someone from the agency tonight to discuss it. Scarecrow that is where you come in. I need you to attend a party that Delano is throwing for his backers. Now this man was able to get you onto the guest list. He wants to meet you in the men's room when Delano takes the microphone to make his announcements at 10pm. I've written down the address for you. Go talk to him and see what he has before we decide if we are interested. This could be just a disgruntled employee but he also might have some valuable information."

"Okay Billy. Can I bring a date?" Lee asked.

"I don't see why not. Do you have someone special in mind?" Billy asked.

Lee smiled and said "I think I do."

As Lee left his office, Billy couldn't help but smile. It had taken a couple of months but Lee was finally started to realize that it wasn't so bad working with Amanda.

Lee rushed out of the office barely missed knocking into Francine. "Whoa, where is the fire Lee?" She asked.

"What? Oh, sorry Francine. I'm in a rush." Lee answered.

"Hot date tonight?"

"No, Billy just gave me an assignment."

"Oh, great! Is it anything I can help with?"

Lee looked at her and said "Nah, I'm all set this time Francine. Maybe next time."

Francine looked forlorn as Lee rushed off. She knew that meant he was going to ask Amanda to help with it. It really wasn't fair.

Lee got home and began to undress so he could jump into the shower. He couldn't help but smile as he picked up the phone to call Amanda. He was in luck as she answered the phone so he even said "Hi" just to make her happy. He didn't know why but he was looking forward to being with her tonight so when she said she had plans, He didn't even hesitate, just told her that it was important that she cancel them. He didn't really need her there, he just thought it would be fun to have her there plus it wasn't like a Suburban Housewife got to go to a nice party too often. He was just doing her a favor, that was all.

Lee arrived by the Reflecting Pool at 8:30 and waited for Amanda. It soon got to be 9pm and there was still no sign of her. He began looking at his watch. Finally at 9:10, she arrived. He was distracted and worried about getting to the party in time so that he wouldn't miss his meeting with Singer. When Amanda asked him if she looked alright, he told her she did. Didn't she realize that she always looked fabulous? The woman could be in rags and still look beautiful. Apparently she had no idea how beautiful she was. Her dress was the same one that she had worn to Prince Reza's party. It was a low cut black dress that showed her figure perfectly but was classy and not trampy. When Amanda said she could have dressed more appropriately if she had known where they were going, Lee couldn't help but give her a look because she looked incredible and it was hard for him not to stare at her. He also noticed that her cast was gone but decided not to say anything. He told her about the party and of course leave it to Amanda to be excited about Quickie Chickie. Lee had never even heard of the place until they had gotten word that something was going on there and Agent Dane had been assigned to keep an eye on things. In mid excitement ramble, Amanda suddenly asked why he didn't just go alone. The woman drove him nuts. Lee Stetson show up at a party alone? What was she thinking? Besides, any other woman would be honored to go with him to a party. He could have invited any of the girls from the Steno Pool but for some reason, he really wanted to go with Amanda. It was nearly 9:30 though so he hustled Amanda into the Porsche and drove quickly to the party.

When they arrived, a valet took Lee's car and Lee guided Amanda up the steps and into the dance hall that had been rented for the occasion. Mr. Singer had kept his word and Lee Steadman was on the guest list. He led Amanda to a bar stool and ordered a scotch for himself and she asked for a Club Soda. Amanda asked him to dance but he needed to go meet Singer and he needed Amanda not to call attention to herself, at least until this meet was over. Once he was done with Singer, he could take her out on the dance floor and spend some time with her but that would have to be later.

Lee walked into the bathroom and found a man standing near the sinks washing his hands. He walked over to him and said "The band is playing lovely tonight" and Singer answered "I especially like the cello player." Lee and Singer then discussed the information he had. When he mentioned that he thought Delano might have been responsible for a death, Lee asked him if he knew who it was. Lee's heart stopped a second when he heard that the Gardner had been killed. He asked if Singer knew where they brought the body and he said that he wasn't sure but he heard them talking about the Potomac River. They wrapped up their talk and Lee walked out of the bathroom smiling as he headed back to Amanda. His smile quickly changed to a look of dismay when he saw that Amanda wasn't waiting for him. What in the world was she doing with James Delano of all people? Lee couldn't believe it. He felt anger welling up inside of himself as he stood watching Amanda dance with Delano. She kept smiling at him and Delano reached over and whispered something in her ear. They danced together like they were past lovers. That was his Amanda and this man didn't have a right to be dancing that close to her. He had a half of mind to go break it up but he didn't want Delano to see him and question who he was. He also didn't want to call attention to himself or Amanda. He stood there watching them for a few minutes and the longer he watched, the more irritated he became. He had been looking forward to this evening with Amanda and now this man had ruined everything. James Delano could very easily be a murderer and of course Amanda would be drawn to him. Why should Lee expect anything else. Amanda always seemed to attract the worse kind. He watched as Delano moved a bit of Amanda's hair out of her face and then kissed her hand as the dance ended. She smiled so nicely at him. Why didn't she ever smile at Lee like that? This whole thing was ridiculous. He didn't bring Amanda to this party so she could go dance with other men, especially James Delano. He brought her so they could dance together. He tried to get her attention but she wouldn't look his way and soon Delano had her continuing with the next dance. Lee couldn't take it any longer and went out to the hallway to look for a pay phone. He found one and quickly called the agency to let them know about Agent Dane and to have them begin a search in the Potomac.

After he hung up the phone, he went back in and found Amanda looking for him. She excused herself and walked over to Lee. Lee stared at her a minute and then said "Did you enjoy your dance?"

"Oh yes, very much."

"Great, are you ready to go?" Lee snapped. His evening was ruined so he couldn't see the point in staying.

"Are you all doing with your contact?" Amanda asked in a whisper.

"Yeah, let's go" Lee said as he took Amanda's arm and guided her to the door.

As they got into the car, Lee asked "Amanda, I thought I told you to wait for me?"

"Lee, I was waiting for you but then Mr. Delano came over and introduced himself and asked me to dance. I told him that I was with someone but he wouldn't take no for an answer so what was I supposed to do? You were with your contact and it would looked odd for me to refuse just to dance with the man. I didn't think one little dance would hurt anything."

"It wasn't just one little dance though. I hope you didn't tell him who you really are."

"Well of course not!" Amanda said.

"So what name did you give him?"

"Victoria Greenwich." Amanda answered.

"What?" Lee asked. Where did she come up with such a name? Usually agents used their first names and then changed the last name a little so it still sounded like their real name but was enough to throw someone off. Not Amanda, she comes up with some name out of left field. Then he hears her explanation of where the name came from and he couldn't believe it. Leave it to Amanda to use a romance novel for the basis of her spy work.

"Did he ask you for any of your information?" Lee asked. He felt his anger stir up a bit again when she said that he asked for her phone number.

"You didn't give it to him, did you?" He asked.

"Well of course not. Not my real one. I wasn't sure what to do so I made a number up."

"Okay, do you remember what you told him?"

"Sure, 555-2424. I made it easy so I wouldn't forget." Amanda admitted.

"Well I will have the agency make that phone number ring to your house in case he calls you." Lee said.

"Do you think he will call?" Amanda asked.

Lee looked straight ahead as he drove back to the reflecting pool area and said "I doubt it. Why would he?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought too but just in case, I didn't want him to know my real number."

Lee pulled up beside of Amanda's car and got out so he could help her out of the Porsche. He helped her into her car and told her to go straight home. She nodded and drove off.

Lee got back into his car and drove to the agency. As he entered the building, Agent Malone came up and told him that they had just located Agent Dane's body. Lee had to suppress his emotions. He had worked with the man several times and had enjoyed their time together. He couldn't help but smile at the memory of them eating beans during the stakeout and trying to out fart each other. He would miss him. This is why you couldn't have feelings in this business. You never knew what tomorrow would bring so it wasn't worth it to get close to anyone. "I need a favor" Lee asked of Agent Malone.

"What is it?"

"A phone number was given out to James Delano tonight that doesn't exist. I need you to get it to forward to Amanda's house. Can you do that for me?" Lee asked.

"Sure, what's the number?" Agent Malone inquired.

"555-2424." Lee answered.

"I'll get right on it Lee."

"Thanks, I owe you." Lee then proceeded into the Bullpen. He stopped along the way and poured two cups of coffee and then hurried on to Billy's office and knocked on his door.

"Come in" Billy said.

"Hey Billy" Lee said as he came through the door and handed him a cup of coffee. It was going to be a long night and they would both need the extra caffeine.

"So how did it go?" Billy asked as he accepted the cup of coffee.

"Well not as I planned. I met up with Singer and he told me that a man named Hollander has been living with Delano now for a month. Delano apparently is going bankrupt in the states so it looks like he is selling out so that he can make the deal with the East Germans and bring Quickie Chickie to Berlin. Singer says that it isn't just that deal though, apparently there is a chance that Persian Missile sites might be part of the deal too. Meanwhile, Amanda can never stay out of trouble so while I was in the bathroom, James Delano asked her to dance and she did."

"Did she tell him who she was?" Billy asked.

"No, I asked her that too." Lee then told Billy about Amanda's cover of Victoria Greenwich and how she got it from a Romance Novel she was reading. Lee couldn't believe that Billy was so excited about Amanda coming up with her own cover. "Okay, so maybe she did well doing that on her own and she even made up a phone number instead of giving her real one but he had told her to wait for him. She wasn't supposed to be in any danger. He had just wanted to take her out as a thank you for all the help she had been giving him lately. Now she was right in the middle of something bad that James Delano apparently was in the middle of also. On top of that, Billy now wanted to use Amanda to lure Delano out so they could sweep his house. Lee could tell that Billy wasn't going to take no for an answer and so all he could do was to make sure she stayed safe. When Billy said that maybe Delano found Amanda exotic and mysterious, Lee nearly choked. Amanda? Exotic? Mysterious? Okay, so she was beautiful with that lovely hair and those dark chocolate eyes and her smile was amazing...wait what did Billy just ask? Lee shook his head. Amanda was off limits. He shouldn't be having those thoughts. Okay, so he would get Amanda to go out with Delano and put a bug on her and Lee would be right outside in case anything went wrong. What could go wrong though? Lee groaned inwardly. This was Amanda. What couldn't go wrong would be the better question.

 **TBC**


	3. Chapter 3 - Just Wonderful

**Chapter 3 - Just Wonderful**

The rest of Amanda's evening had been amazing. Since Lee had left her to amuse herself, she didn't think he would mind if she danced with James Delano when he asked her to. When James first approached her, she wasn't sure what she should do. He was so charming though and it had been a long time since a man looked at her the way that James Delano looked at her. When he asked her for her name, she knew right away that she shouldn't tell him her real name. She wasn't exactly sure who Lee was meeting or why it had to be at this party but her instincts told her that she had to be careful just in case. She searched her mind quickly for a fake name to give him and then remembered the novel she was reading and said "Victoria Greenwich". There was very little chance that this man was reading the same novel so he wouldn't know it was an alias. Then he asked her to dance. She looked around to see if Lee was anywhere in sight and then decided that she really wanted to dance. Jim was a good dancer. He didn't try to cut into her personal space but he did tell her the whole time they were dancing just how beautiful she was and what a great dancer she was. He was a complete gentleman but he sure did know how to sweet talk her. This was the part of her life that she missed. Joe had his issues but he was always so romantic and made her feel loved and appreciated. Dean didn't seem to know how to do that. Oh, he was a good man but he just wasn't very romantic. It felt nice to be with someone again who could make her feel special. As they danced, some of Amanda's hair fell into her eyes and James gently swept it out of her face. He then lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed it. Amanda's heart swooned as she smiled at him. Soon the dance ended and Amanda began to move off the floor but when the music began almost immediately into another song, James softly grabbed her arm and said "Just one more dance? Please Victoria?" Amanda smiled and agreed. James held her a little closer during this second dance and she found that she just enjoyed swaying to the music with him. He asked her if she was seeing anyone and she quickly said "not at the moment" even though she knew it was a lie. When he asked for her phone number, she panicked but then made one up that she would remember. He asked if it would be okay if he called her sometime and she said that she would like that. She began looking for Lee and noticed that he had come back into the room so she told James that her date was back. He never asked her at all about Lee. He never seemed to act like Lee was any kind of competition since he had left her all alone. Amanda quickly thanked James for the dance and walked over to Lee. He looked at her with an emotion she couldn't read. It almost seemed to be a jealous look but surely Lee Stetson was not jealous of another man dancing with her. After all, he had only recently started acting like he could tolerate her being around but even then; it depended on his mood. She decided to ignore his look.

"Are you ready to go or do you have more dance engagements with Delano to finish?" Lee asked while trying to keep his voice even.

"I'm all set if you are." Amanda replied while ignoring Lee's comment which again sounded like it was tinged in jealousy.

He guided her out to the parking lot and the valet brought him his car. After helping Amanda in and closing her door, Lee ran his hand through his hair and walked over to the driver's side and got in. He turned the Porsche back toward the Reflecting pool area and began asking her questions about what she was doing with Delano. Amanda felt like she had done well by not using her real name or phone number so she proudly told Lee what she had done. She noted that not once did he tell her that she had done a good job or that he was happy with any of her choices. It was almost like he couldn't wait to get her back to her car. He drove way too fast and swerved around several cars and Amanda couldn't help but wonder what his problem was. She finally decided to try to find out.

"So how did your meeting go?"

"It went fine."

"Did you find out anything?"

"Amanda, you know I can't tell you that."

"Oh right, that need to know thing."

"Yeah"

"Amanda, I'm going to have the agency root the number you gave Delano to your house just in case he tries to call you. I'm sure you will never hear from him again, but just in case, we have to be prepared."

"Alright Lee. What should I do if he calls?"

"I'm sure he won't Amanda. If he does though, please let me know right away, okay?"

"Sure"

Lee had pulled up to Amanda's car. He got out and helped her out of his car and then helped her into hers.

"Are you going to be okay driving home?" Lee asked.

"Sure, I'll be just fine."

"Okay, remember, call me if Delano calls."

"I will. Good night Lee."

"Good Night Amanda."

As Amanda drove back to Arlington, she couldn't help but think about how amazing it was to dance with James Delano. He was so handsome and she could tell he was a very romantic man. Who would have ever known that she would feel so wonderful after the evening started out so dull? He wouldn't call her though. She was sure of it. He had just been lonely and had spotted her alone in the crowd. No, Lee was right, there was no reason for James Delano to call her.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4 - Victoria Greenwich

**Chapter 4 - Victoria Greenwich**

Amanda found that she slept like a rock. She awoke and still found herself feeling like she was in a dream from the night before. Well she was because a man as rich and powerful as James Delano wouldn't want anything to do with a simple housewife like her. She got the boys up and pushed them to get ready for school. After seeing them off on the bus, she headed to her sink of dirty dishes. She couldn't help but stare out the window as she cleaned them and daydream about her dance with Jim. Her Mother came downstairs and asked her how the party was. Amanda in a faraway voice said it was wonderful but then stumbled when her Mother asked her about Chuck. She had forgotten about Chuck. The phone interrupted them before her Mother could question her any further. Amanda couldn't believe that James Delano was calling her. Amanda looked over at her Mother and realized that she could hear every word she was saying so she let Jim do most of the talking. He mostly called to ask her out. She told him that she would have to think about it as she was quite busy but that she would call him back. As she hung up the phone, her Mother asked "What was that all about?"

"Oh, Mother, that was a man that I met when I tried out for a play last week. The character I tried out for was named Victoria Greenwich and he was hoping I had gotten the part."

"Well did you?" Dotty asked.

"Did I what?"

"Did you get the part? Amanda, I swear you seem to be lost in the clouds these days. Are you okay?"

"Sure, I'm okay. I don't know yet if I got the part. Mother I have to go. Are you heading to your Bridge game?" Amanda asked.

"No, they canceled. Edna is not feeling well."

"Okay, well I'll be home later." Amanda grabbed her purse and rushed out the door. She couldn't call the agency with her Mother in the room so she would just drive over and try to catch Lee there.

As she walked into the agency, she noticed the cameras following her every move. She buzzed to let them know she was there. While she waited, she found herself wondering again about the strange set up in this place. Whoever heard of the receptionist being behind a closed door so you couldn't see her? Perhaps at some point, someone had tried to kill Mrs. Marston so this was safer. Lee arrived shortly after and ended her thoughts. He immediately brought her to Billy's office after he found out that Delano had in fact called her. As she told them about her phone call, she couldn't help but notice that Mr. Melrose seemed very pleased with how she had handled James Delano. Lee sat in back of her so she couldn't read his expression but she noticed what sounded like jealousy again as he asked her what she said to him. Mr. Melrose's expression never seemed to change though. When Amanda said that Jim had invited her out to dinner, Billy seemed to have a smug look on his face but Amanda again heard what sounded like amazement and a hint of jealousy from Lee. She couldn't help but feel a little smug that Jim had asked her out, especially when she realized that the agency needed her to go on this date. When Mr. Melrose started talking about sweeping and a scenario, she had to ask for clarification and then thought that Mr. Melrose didn't understand what she had said about using the name of Victoria Greenwich from her romance novel. She got confused because they seemed to think Victoria was real. She didn't understand just how real the agency was about to make her. As she looked up into Lee's face and saw the proud smile he was wearing, she knew she could trust him like always. Mr. Melrose suggested that she call James Delano and accept his invitation and he offered her the phone on his desk. She was a little uncomfortable making the call in front of both of them but she kept it short by telling him that she had things to do if she was going to be ready by 7pm.

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Amanda King had arrived at the agency and called upstairs to let them know that she was there to see Lee. Mrs. Marston asked her if she had an appointment and she said that she didn't but that she had information that Lee had asked her to deliver as soon as she got it. Mrs. Marston contacted Lee to let him know he had a visitor. Mrs. Marston couldn't help but like Amanda even though they had only talked on the phone. She could clearly see her every movement from the security camera displays on her desk. She wasn't a huge fan of this new set up that the agency was trying out. It had been about 8 months now and she still wanted to go back to the way things had been before the disgruntled actor had come into the agency thinking that it was a real film company and decided to take out his aggravation from being fired on anyone who worked there. The other receptionist that covered for Mrs. Marston had died in her place that day. Anna Sutz had been a sweet girl and didn't deserve to die that day. The man had come in demanding revenge and opened fire on the only person in front of him which just happened to be Anna. Agents rushed upstairs as soon as they heard the gun fire but it was too late to save Anna. It was Billy Melrose who had called Mrs. Marston at home to let her know what had happened. He gently told her and then recommended that she take the rest of the week off with pay. She attended Anna's Funeral on Saturday but there weren't any tears left to cry since she had cried that whole week. When Mrs. Marston returned to her job that Monday, she found that her desk had been moved upstairs and that there was now security cameras everywhere and they all showed on computer displays that were taking up a lot of space on her desk so she could see every inch of the lobby and elevator at any moment. She was thankful that they had decided to take care of their own but sad because she enjoyed seeing the agents as they entered the building. Sometimes they would bring her coffee and pastries since she was almost always forgotten once their busy day began. She understood though because those agents worked hard and rarely got the recognition they deserved. Lee Stetson was one of her favorites. She knew he liked to date the steno pool and that he could be a little too easy with the women but she also knew that there was something about Amanda King that fascinated him. She didn't know the complete story about Amanda as she rarely got told everything but she knew he had picked her out of a crowd to give a key piece of information to and that Billy Melrose saw something in Amanda and kept her around afterward. Mrs. Marston respected Billy more than anyone at the agency. He had been the one who had hired her so many years ago and given her a job that she loved. If he was keeping Amanda King around, it was because he saw something in her. Mrs. Marston enjoyed watching the interaction between Lee Stetson and Amanda King. She had spunk and she didn't let Mr. Stetson get away with very much. She wasn't like any of the girls he usually dated but she could clearly see a tiny spark between the two of them. Perhaps, the longer they worked together, the more that spark might grow. Time would tell.

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Lee knew if Amanda was there, then likely Delano had called her. He took the elevator up to meet her. He brought her to Billy's office so they could have privacy and Billy took over questioning her. Lee couldn't believe it when she told them that Delano had said he enjoyed meeting her. Without thinking, he asked her what she said. At first, Lee was having a hard time listening to Amanda because he couldn't believe she was falling for all of Delano's lines. This man was a piece of work and poor naive Amanda was falling for it hook, line and sinker. Anyone could see what kind of man Delano was. Meanwhile, Billy's plan was falling into place so Lee had no choice but to make it happen. He would enjoy working with Amanda to make her into Victoria Greenwich though. She didn't realize yet that she would in fact become the Victoria Greenwich that Delano would find Exotic and mysterious. Deep down, Lee knew that Amanda would be even more beautiful dressed in the finer things in life. He found himself enjoying his part in this.

 **TBC**


	5. Chapt 5- Sounding Like a Jealous Person

**Chapter 5 - You're Sounding Like a Jealous Person**

After they left the agency, Lee drove Amanda to one of the richest neighborhoods and pointed out the house that Victoria Greenwich would call her own. It was an absolutely beautiful home. She had no idea that the agency could do all of this and wondered how often they did. The two agents who were playing her maid and butler were not very friendly acting but when Amanda saw the closet full of stunning dresses and clothes, she forgot all about them. She couldn't believe that a computer could pick all of this stuff out. Then Lee began going over the story that they had created for Victoria's past and future. Amanda had found the box of jewelry though. It was like every dream she had ever had as a child as she began trying on all that beautiful jewelry. Imagine Amanda King being able to dress like royalty. She did her best to listen to Lee as he told her what she would need to know so that she could spin tales for James Delano. It was hard to concentrate though. Lee got a little irritated with her but finally realized it was best to leave her to play dress up and learn her part on her own. He told her that he would be downstairs getting everything ready for the night.

Amanda still had very little understanding why they needed her to go out with Delano so they could sweep his house but she was really enjoying this. She had grown up with a lot of love but times had been tight and she had never had expensive jewelry or really beautiful clothes. If she wanted a fancy gown, she generally had to make it herself or find one that had been donated to a charity drive. Now she was sitting in this room that had a whole closet full of beautiful dresses and a jewelry box that had more diamonds than she had thought possible for one person. After trying all of the jewelry on, Amanda knew that she needed to get ready for her evening so she took the cheat cards that Lee had made up and began memorizing them. She had a really good memory so it didn't take long for her to memorize it all. If she could keep her nervousness from taking over, she would do well. When she got really nervous though, she tended to forget things. She had studied long enough though, she was either going to remember her lines or she would have to fake them. She went to the closet to decide what to wear and decided that the blue gown was too dressy for just a dinner out. She picked a beautiful white top with a long black skirt. She put on the diamond necklace with matching bracelets along with long dangling earrings and diamond rings. She looked at herself in the mirror one more time before heading downstairs to find Lee. She found him in the study just ending a phone conversation finalizing the plans to sweep Delano's house. Delano had left and was on the way to pick "Victoria" up.

"Now Amanda, remember that we will be right outside in the van if you need us. This brooch has a wire in it so that we can hear everything that is going on just in case there is any trouble. Here, let me show you how to pin it."

"Are you expecting there to be trouble tonight Lee?"

"No, but you can never be too careful. Did you memorize what the computer come up with for you?"

"Yes, I have it memorized. I'm nervous Lee. I've never done anything like this before."

"Yeah, well Delano is not your ordinary man. He likes woman who keep him guessing and the scenario that the computer created for you should keep him interested in you. Now, did you see how I pinned the brooch? Remember that it is sensitive so try to keep your hands away from it."

"I'll do my best. What am I going to say to him? I'm not used to going out like this. It doesn't seem real."

"You'll do fine. Just remember the information and you just have to keep him interested enough so he stays out with you until midnight so we have enough time to sweep his house. We'll be listening in so you'll be perfectly safe. Now just be careful of the brooch so that we can hear what's going on. Keep in mind that you have to pin it so that the wire is not visible. Okay?"

"Okay, I think I have it Lee."

"Good. Stop being nervous, you will be fine."

Frederick came out at that moment and announced that James Delano's car had pulled up. Lee quickly walked into the study as the doorbell rang. Amanda greeted James at the door but didn't allow him to enter. They walked out to his car and he opened the door and helped her inside.

Amanda found that it was fun to play the part of Victoria but she found that she was nervous because she knew Lee was listening so that caused her to ramble. She wasn't positive that she had all the facts correct but would he remember anything that she said anyway? She created stories out of the information she had been given but she soon found herself all done with that information and still had a lot of time to kill. James had ordered a bottle of wine before dinner but she kept herself limited to one glass. They both ordered steak tips and Amanda found herself doing most of the talking. James barely touched his food as he listened to her. He seemed intrigued with everything she said. In an attempt to keep talking, Amanda wove the novel that she had taken Victoria's name from and told him a story about how she felt like in a past life, she had been this character. He looked at her in amazement and kept asking how he had never met her before. When she finished her story, he reached for her brooch and she quickly tried to stop him from seeing it and it fell. Amanda knew that she couldn't let him see it so she excused herself to go to the powder room. Along the way she spoke into the brooch and told Lee to meet her there. She knew he was going to blame her for the whole thing. It made her so nervous that they were listening to everything she said. When Lee entered the Ladies room, she threw the brooch at him and complained that he could at least give her equipment that worked. As they were talking about how she was running out of things to say, Lee asked her if she was believing his lines. That was when it hit her. Lee was truly acting like a jealous person. All those times she thought it and had dismissed it, she realized she had been right. He was jealous of James Delano. Well there was certainly no reason for him to be listening in on any more of her conversation if that was the case, so she ripped off the wire and stormed out. This man was just as much the playboy that he was accusing Jim of being and he had the nerve to act like Jim didn't have a right to be with so many women while it was perfectly okay for Lee to have a new woman every other night. No, she didn't need to listen to him anymore and she wasn't going to allow him to eavesdrop on her lovely evening with Jim. She had had about enough of Lee Stetson for one night.

 **TBC**


	6. Chapt 6-I am NOT a Jealous Person, Am I?

**Chapter 6 - I'm not a Jealous Person, Am I?**

It had been hard for Lee to listen to Amanda's date with James Delano. Amanda was naive and innocent and she seemed to be falling for every 5th grader line that Delano was throwing at her. He couldn't even enjoy his sandwich. Lee loved to eat on stakeouts but this man was turning his stomach. "Where have you been all my life?" Delano had asked Amanda. Was he serious? Really? That's the best line he could come up with. Amanda seemed to be so distracted by all of his charm that she forgot what Lee had told her about the brooch. Then it happened, she dropped the brooch. Lee heard Amanda demand Lee to come to the ladies room fast so he quickly went to the ladies room. As he walked through the door, she threw the brooch at him and he barely caught it. She then complained that the equipment wasn't any good and Lee lost it. Amanda was having a good time with Delano, he could tell. She wasn't supposed to be enjoying herself, she was supposed to be concentrating on her job. As he ranted about this to her, she told him that she was running out of things to say and then started to defend Delano. Lee's anger and frustration got the best of him and he began to try to clearly explain to Amanda just how much Delano wasn't what he seemed and how many women the man had been with. In the middle of his explanation, she suddenly said that she "Didn't believe it". Lee continued with what he was saying by finishing his sentence with "dozens!" Then it happened, she told him that he sounded like a jealous person. WHAT? Wait a minute, who was she calling jealous? He was not jealous, he was simply trying to protect Amanda just like he always had. Why would he be jealous of Delano? What did he have that Lee didn't have? Well of course at the moment, he was having dinner with Amanda but Lee didn't have feelings for Amanda and besides, she was only having dinner with him because Lee asked her to. That was the only reason, right? Amanda meanwhile had stormed out after ripping off the wire from the brooch and smacking it into Lee's hands. As Lee was trying to figure out what to do, a lady came into the Ladies Room and gave him a look so he made up a story about looking for the kitchen and then hurried out of the Ladies Room. As he came out and looked around the Dining room Area, he could see that Amanda had made it back to her table and Delano had taken her hand in his and the two of them were smiling at each other. It took all he had to force himself to leave the Restaurant and get back into the van. He told the Agent he was with that Amanda no longer had the wire so the operation must as well be called off. Delano obviously was not going to harm Amanda and so there was no reason to stay. As Lee drove the van back to the agency, he dwelled on their conversation. Was he acting jealous? Amanda had a boyfriend. If he was going to be jealous, wouldn't he be jealous about that? Why did it bother him so much that she seemed attracted to Delano. It was because he wasn't a nice man, Lee decided. He would take advantage of Amanda. She wasn't used to men like Delano. He was dangerous and he likely would break her heart. Lee decided that it had nothing to do with jealousy, it was strictly him being protective of her. After all, he was the one who got her into this crazy business. He felt that it was his job to watch over her. He swung into the agency parking lot and said goodbye to the agent. Lee headed over to his Porsche and headed back to where Victoria Greenwich lived. Frederick met him at the door and asked him why he was back so early. "It's a long story" Lee explained. "Right now, I just want a nice glass of Scotch to help get over this evening."

"Where is Miss Greenwich" Frederick asked.

"She's on her date." Lee said with an obvious tone of jealousy.

If Frederick was the smiling type, he would have smiled at Lee. Luckily, he didn't believe in smiling. He went over to the bar and poured a glass of Scotch for Lee and added some ice. Lee took a seat in a chair near the window and took a long sip of the scotch. That woman just made him so mad. Why did she have to fight him about everything? He was not jealous though. It really irked him that she called him jealous. He downed the first glass of Scotch and went to the bar to pour himself another one. Just as he sat back down, Agent Frederick came through the door with a phone and said that Agent Stewart was checking in.

"Hey Sam, What did you find?" Lee asked as he answered the phone. Sam Stewart had been put in charge of sweeping Delano's house. He let Lee know that they had gone through Hollander's things and the only thing that seemed important was an airline ticket for Sunday for a return trip to Berlin. Stewart had left Singer to finish going through Delano's things including his safe. He told Lee that he should be calling him soon. As he was hanging up, Lee saw Delano's car pull up. He stood in the shadows and watched Delano kiss Amanda and then Amanda exited the car. She walked up the stairs and finally Delano drove off. Lee waited for the agents to begin taking the jewelry off Amanda before he made his appearance. The alcohol had finally kicked in so he felt a little more relaxed. "It's way after midnight, Cinderella" he said simply. He had told her to stay out until midnight and she hadn't come back until nearly 1:30am. He tried to get her to tell him about her evening but she refused. Lee found his temper starting again but then she asked what they had found at Delano's and he was able to get himself back under control as he told her. They were interrupted by Singer's call. Lee knew that they had discovered when it was all going to happen as soon as Singer said there was a black tie party on Saturday with a lot of important people. He just needed the guest list and they should be able to break this case. As he hung up with Singer, he found himself looking at Amanda again. She smiled at him and then headed upstairs to change back into her normal clothes. When she came back down the stairs, Lee offered to drive her back to the agency so she could collect her car. They rode in silence most of the way there and Lee found herself stealing glances at her. What was wrong with him? Was he jealous? Why was he jealous? She was a beautiful woman but she wasn't his type. He knew that and she knew that. Why did it bug him so damn much that she seemed attracted to Delano then?

TBC

A/N - To the Guest who wrote that you thought this was supposed to be just a new story in between, I guess you haven't read my series. Feel free to check out the others. I use this series to fill in the holes that are left behind in the shows we were shown in the series and then meld a new story in before setting up for the next show that was shown in the series. It allows me to do both at once instead of just writing short fillers since I think an actual chapter story is more fun than just one shot fillers. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for asking.


	7. Chat 7-It's Way Past Midnight Cinderella

**Chapter 7 - It's Way Past Midnight Cinderella**

The rest of the evening with James Delano had been wonderful. After dinner, he had taken her dancing. He was such a good dancer. He liked to hold her close and talk softly in her ear as they danced while rubbing his hand up and down her back in a soothing way. She could feel herself melting in his embrace. Joe had been a good dancer but he had never held her like this. It was always awkward dancing with Dean. James Delano knew how to romance a woman. Amanda had to keep reminding herself not to fall for this man. He was just so charming though. All thoughts of Lee had left her mind as soon as she had returned to the table and she found herself completely fascinated with being with this man. Later she realized that he told her very little about himself. Eventually she ran out of things to say and they just enjoyed being together. It was Delano who noticed that it was almost 1am. Amanda told him that she really needed to get home because she was facing a busy day in the morning. He reluctantly agreed and he had his driver drive them to her house. Along the way he told her that he was having a party on Saturday. It wasn't much but some of his Political friends would be there and he would love to have her there. Amanda told him that she wasn't sure so he brought it up again as she was ready to exit the car. In her heart, she really wanted to attend but she wasn't sure the agency would want her to. This little scenario that the agency had planned for her was every little girl's dream. She not only got to dress in expensive clothes, wear expensive jewelry but she got to go out with Prince Charming. As she headed up the stairs to Victoria's house, Lee was still the furthest thing from her mind as she found herself still in the clouds. Frederick and Mary quickly made her crash back down to earth as they stripped her of all the expensive jewelry and then Lee came out of the shadows holding a drink and telling her that it was "Way past midnight, Cinderella." That was what this all felt like, she was living a Disney fairy tale. It was time for it to end though and she knew she needed to slip back into the role of Amanda King. A role that until she found Victoria Greenwich, she was perfectly happy with. It dawned on her as she was talking to Lee that he was still showing signs of irritation with her. Maybe she had been mistaken and he was just annoyed with her instead of jealous. He was so hard to read some days. He pressured her to tell him about her evening but there was nothing that he needed to know and if he was a little jealous, it would just add to those feelings. So she changed the subject by asking him what they had learned from the sweep. He told her that Delano and Hollander would be making their move by Sunday. She just couldn't believe that Jim would be involved in anything bad. He just seemed too nice and she refused to consider it for the moment. Meanwhile, Lee got a phone call and after he hung up, Amanda went upstairs to change. It dawned on her that her car was still at the agency where she had left earlier before Lee brought her to this house. When she came back downstairs, Lee offered to drive her back to get her car. It was an awkward trip as neither of them seemed to know what to say to each other. She could see that Lee kept looking at her as he was driving and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. She resigned herself to just being quiet.

Later as she snuck into her own house and quietly tip toed up the stairs, her mind went again to what a magical evening it had been.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8 - Fantasies

**Chapter 8 - Fantasies**

Lee had gone home to his empty apartment still wrapped up in his thoughts. It had taken him forever to get to sleep and before he knew it, the alarm was going off. He dragged himself out of bed, stripped down and jumped into the shower. He quickly rushed out to meet with Singer. In thinking about it later, he should have questioned why an ice cream truck would be out so early in the morning but sadly that thought came too late as Singer was now dead. The guest list that he had prepared had been taken from his body while Lee was forced to take cover from gunfire. Poor Singer. He had asked for protection and Lee had let him down. These men were playing for keeps and Lee should have realized it and taken more care with him. In the meantime, he now had to go back and face Billy.

Billy was disappointed that Singer was dead but he didn't blame Lee half as much as Lee blamed himself. Billy knew they needed to get into that party more than ever now though. Lee of course had thought of Amanda right away but he had decided that he wasn't going to suggest it because he couldn't protect her and she would be in immense danger around this Hollander. Unfortunately he knew Billy would come to the conclusion that they needed Amanda and sure enough, he did. Lee weakly tried to convince him not to use her but it was no use. He had already told Billy that Delano was quite taken with Amanda. He only told him that because he was irritated with the thought of it and worried for Amanda. He was expecting that Billy would use it to get Amanda invited to the party. Lee sighed and headed over to his desk to call Amanda. She agreed to meet him in an hour.

Lee got to the meeting spot and began pacing. He ran his hand through his hair several times and kept looking at his watch as he dreaded her arrival. What was he going to say to her? She had every right to refuse to continue this adventure that he was setting her on. He really wanted to tell her to just run and not look back. When Amanda arrived, Lee was still looking at his watch. As she walked up to him, they both began to apologize at the same time. Amanda reminded him that she was living out a fantasy. He didn't know what to say when she mentioned that she used to fantasize about Secret Agents. He wasn't sure how to take that. Did she tell him that only because the secret agent that she knew wasn't as amazing as her fantasy or was she telling him that because she really did have a crush on him and it was a subtle way to say it? Lee tried to explain to Amanda that fantasies don't really exist. He had lived long enough to see enough heartache for a lifetime and he wanted to try to stop Amanda from experiencing what he had been through. He knew that she threw her emotions into everything she said and did so she was bound to get hurt by this Delano creep. He needed her to realize that before he asked her to make contact with him and become involved with him again. As he formulated a plan to get her invited to Delano's party, he looked up and saw that she was smiling and didn't seem to be taking any of this seriously enough. As he began to chastise her, she threw him for a loop when she said that she had already been invited. Amanda was in this thing too deep and Lee couldn't pull the plug to keep her from drowning. He realized that Delano definitely was much too intrigued by Amanda and that could ultimately lead to trouble for her. Surely that didn't mean he was jealous? He was just worried about her.

It was good that she had been invited though as it made things easier. Now if she just did as he asked, she should be in no danger. He just needed her to unlock the French Doors and flick a light so he would know it was clear for him to come in. It was an easy assignment. He told her that he would pick her up at Victoria Greenwich's house at 7pm. That would give her enough time to have dinner with her boys and then go to the house and get dressed up for her date. She looked so down in the dumps after their talk that Lee took her hand and squeezed it and said "Don't worry. This will be all over in no time." He smiled as he let go of her hand and she smiled back at him. Lee had a feeling that this evening wasn't going to go as smoothly as he hoped though. Hopefully he could keep Amanda safe through it all.

 **TBC**


	9. Chapter 9 - Muscarine Poisoning

**Chapter 9 - Muscarine Poisoning**

After leaving Lee, Amanda called Delano and let him know that she would make the party after all. He seemed quite happy about that. Amanda went home and made sure the boys finished their homework, ate dinner with them and then told her Mother that some of her old friends that she had met the other night at Chuck's alumni party had decided to all go out to dinner that night. "I might be a little late Mother so don't wait up." Amanda said as she headed out for the evening. She drove to the Victoria Greenwich house and after saying hello to Frederick and Mary, she headed upstairs. She chose the blue gown this time and put on the prettiest of the jewels. It hadn't been nearly as much fun this time dressing up because now it was more real. James Delano likely was a criminal and that really upset Amanda. He had been so charming that she felt herself drawn to him a little bit and it was hard to accept that he wasn't what he seemed. She heard voices downstairs and knew that Lee had arrived to take her to the party. She slipped on her heels and grabbed the fake mink wrap and headed down the stairs. Lee smiled when he saw her and then guided her out to the limo that was parked outside. As he drove, he reminded her of her role in this whole thing. She was simply to wait until the party was in full swing, then go to the study, unlock the French Doors, flick the lights 3 times and then rejoin the party. What could possibly go wrong? She felt sad that James Delano would probably end up in jail after tonight and it was a hard lesson for her to learn why she needed to keep her emotions out of her work. Selfishly, she kept hoping that he wasn't involved and that Lee was wrong but that was all a fantasy and she knew it would soon reveal itself.

They arrived at the party and Lee helped her out of the limo. As she began to walk away, he stopped her and told her that she looked "Fabulous". Amanda couldn't believe he said it. He had never said anything so nice to her before. She couldn't help herself from checking him over too. He always looked so handsome but especially when he was in a tux or suit. His words really meant a lot to her. She entered Delano's house and he immediately came to take possession of her. As he introduced her to Hollander, she got a bad vibe from the man but she stayed close to Delano so she would feel protected. Delano soon whisked her away from the party so he could show her the view from the Terrace. He took the opportunity to give her a deep and passionate kiss and once again Amanda felt drawn to him. They both got lost in the moment but then Amanda reminded him about his guests and he reluctantly let her go. She could definitely fall for this man if only he wasn't a criminal. They went back downstairs to listen to the opera singer. After everyone seemed to be captivated by the singer, Amanda whispered to Delano that she needed to use the powder room. As she headed out, she was stopped by a worker and asked if he could help her. She asked for the location of the powder room and he pointed to a room right in front of them. Amanda entered and then came right back out and found the coast was clear. As she made her way down the hallway, she knew exactly which room was the study because Lee was able to describe it to her from the time they had come in to sweep the house. As she entered the room, she soon realized that finding a way to flick the lights was not easy and headed back to flick the light switch on the wall. At that moment, Delano, Hollander and a voice she didn't recognize entered the office area outside the study. Amanda quickly flattened herself against the wall and listened in on their conversations. She could hear them talking about Persian Missile sites and then Delano came into the study to grab a suitcase that apparently was full of money. It was all true. Delano was involved in all of this. It made it easier for Amanda to deal with helping turn him in. As soon as the voices receded out into the hallway, Amanda flicked the lights and went to the French Doors, unlocked them and then closed them again for Lee. She then headed back to the party. As she opened the door, Hollander blocked her way. He pulled out a gun and asked her to come with him as he led her up the stairs. Amanda knew that she was in trouble and that Lee would be coming in soon but wouldn't know she was in trouble. The only thing she could think to do was to leave her purse hanging off the stairs.

Hollander pulled her into a bedroom and began asking her who she was. At first Amanda tried to play dumb but he didn't buy it due to her saying the skiing was awful in Gstaad when it really was a great season. Suddenly he backhanded her across the face. Amanda had never been hit before and found it to be very painful. She was shocked that a man would hit a woman. She tried to convince him that she was just a housewife with 2 small children but he wouldn't believe her. He pulled out a vial and began filling a needle with its contents. He told her that since she wouldn't talk freely, he was going to help her remember who she was. As she watched him clear the needle of air, she got more scared and threatened to scream. He told her that no one would hear her because of the music but she still hoped that Lee might so she screamed. As Hollander began to inject the fluid into her arm, Amanda passed out from fright. Amanda never felt the needle that Hollander plunged into her arm.

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

Lee was blown away when he saw Amanda come down the stairs at the Greenwich house. She was wearing a beautiful blue dress that went almost to the floor. It covered her very conservatively but still showed her curves nicely. He immediately recovered from his first glance at her and smiled as she reached him. He then escorted her out to the limo and helped her inside. As he drove, he gave her last minute thoughts, advice and instructions. This assignment was a lot to ask of her especially since she had allowed herself to get attached to Delano and he needed to make sure she was going to be okay when the whole thing was over. She was a strong woman though and he knew she would bounce back from it. As they pulled up to the house, he got out and helped her out of the car. She wouldn't even look at him. He could tell how nervous she was and blamed himself for being so hard on her. He reached out as she walked by and said "You look fabulous" and flashed one of his charming smiles at her. She immediately lit up and some of her confidence quickly returned. He could tell that he had said the right thing even though it was true anyway. She headed inside while Lee stood near the car where he had a good view of the study. He hated that he couldn't see what was going on and know that Amanda was okay. Hopefully she did what he asked and stayed out of trouble. It took nearly an hour before he finally saw the study's lights flash 3 times. He quickly made his way to the French Doors and walked into the room. Lee was immediately attacked by an assailant that was pretty strong but Lee finally managed to knock him out. This attack meant only one thing, Amanda was in danger and he needed find her immediately. He walked out of the study and headed to the party where there was a woman singing opera. He began frantically looked for signs of Amanda. He looked over the crowd as they sat in chairs listening to the music and could immediately tell she wasn't there. He began frantically rubbing his fingers together like he always did when he was nervous or upset. Where was she? Then he noticed her purse hanging off the staircase. He quickly headed up the stairs and began to go through each room. Thankfully he heard Amanda scream. He bolted toward the sound and burst into a room to find Hollander sitting on the bed beside of an unconscious Amanda. Hollander reached for his gun and Lee struggled with him for control of it. After a short time, Lee was finally able to hit Hollander enough to knock him off balance and he dropped the gun. Lee grabbed it and made sure Hollander knew that he had lost. For just a moment, there was fear in Hollander's eyes but he quickly recovered and went back to a neutral face. Lee went to Amanda's side and checked her pulse and was relieved that she was still alive. He grabbed the needle off the bed and tried to see if it smelled like anything he recognized. It didn't so he demanded that Hollander tell him what was in it or else he would blow his brains all over the room. Hollander didn't miss a beat as he reminded him that they were both in the same business and knew that he would never talk. Lee wanted so badly to kill Hollander but he knew that wouldn't help Amanda so he hit him a hard blow to the neck which knocked him out. Lee went to Amanda and gently gathered her up into his arms. He carried her downstairs to where the party was and began looking for Delano. He was so upset that he could barely see straight but he knew he needed to keep it together if he was going to save Amanda. The singer stopped singing when she saw Lee holding Amanda and Delano stood up. Lee tried to keep his anger in check as he walked over to Delano while carrying Amanda. He demanded to know what Hollander had given her and Delano could only apologize. Lee was so close to tears but he was also so full of rage. It was all his fault that Amanda got hurt and he needed to fix this and if he had to hurt Delano to do so, he would do it. He told Delano that she didn't deserve this and she sure didn't. She was just a housewife who shouldn't be mixed up in this crazy business. He had let her down and now she might die. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her. It would be all his fault and he didn't know if he could live with himself. Then Delano told her that Hollander gave her 10 cc's of Muscarine. Lee cursed them both as he headed out of the party to find a phone so he could call an ambulance and let them know what she had been injected with so they could bring some antidote. As he waited for the ambulance to come, he called Billy to let him know what was happening and Billy told him to get control of himself and that he would meet him at the hospital. Billy agreed to send agents over right away to collect Hollander and Delano along with the other men who were working for them.

The Ambulance finally arrived and Lee carried Amanda out to it and laid her gently onto the stretcher. As they loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, Lee was running his hand through his hair. He walked over and asked if he could ride with her and showed the EMT his badge. "Of course Mr. Stetson. Just please let us do our job though okay?"

"Sure, I'll stay out of the way." Lee said as he took a seat beside of the stretcher but out of the way so the EMT could work on her. Soon she had an IV inserted into her arm and the lifesaving antidote was administered. Thankfully it didn't take long for the antidote to take affect and the EMT told Lee that she was stabilized and left them alone as he made his way to the front of the ambulance for the rest of the ride. Lee got up and moved closer to Amanda. He was so full of emotion as he looked down at her sleeping so peacefully. She had no idea how close she had just come to dying and it was killing him. He couldn't help but be proud of her though because she had so bravely agreed to this whole assignment and then stood up to Hollander. He found his hand pushing her hair back from her eyes. She was just so beautiful. As he looked at her, he started talking to her. He would never have been brave enough to talk to her if she had been awake but since she was asleep, he told her what a great job she had done. He then even admitted that she might make a decent agent someday. At that moment her eyes opened and she thanked him. Lee's face turned to total panic as he realized she was awake and had heard him. Then he realized that she was out of it due to the pain meds that had been administered to her as she asked to be woken when she reached Portofino. Lee shook his head in amazement. Only Amanda could go through all she had and then come up with such a request. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry but he was sure thankful she would be okay. When did he start caring about her? He hadn't planned to ever let her into his heart but as he saw her lying on that bed and realized that he might lose her because of whatever Hollander had injected into her, he had found himself being torn apart emotionally. He knew at that moment that Amanda King had managed to work her way into a small part of his heart and that it would affect him greatly if anything should happen to her. They had already gone through a lot together even though they had only known each other for a couple of months. She was truly an amazing woman. Amanda had slipped back unconscious and Lee sat looking at her while holding her hand the rest of the ride to the hospital.

When the Ambulance arrived at the hospital, Lee stepped out of the way so they could unload the stretcher with Amanda on it and get her into the ER to make sure she was okay. He followed along behind and was pleasantly surprised that Billy had already filled out the paperwork for her.

"Lee, how is she?" Billy asked.

"She's going to be okay Billy."

"Thank God. What the hell happened?"

Lee looked pained as he told Billy about the last couple of hours. They of course would do a formal debriefing later and Amanda would need to be debriefed when she was up to it but this was just a conversation between two friends about a woman who was starting to mean a lot to both of them. Billy could tell that Lee was deeply affected by what had happened. He knew that Lee had faced death and heartache too much and as much as he wasn't ready to admit that Amanda had become important to him, Billy just knew that deep down, she had.

The Doctor came out and told them both that she would be just fine. They were going to keep her for a few hours to make sure the antidote was able to completely block out the effects of the Muscarine poisoning but at this point, it looked like Amanda was well on her way to recovery. He told them that they should be able to see her in a short time. Lee looked clearly relieved and Billy suggested that there was no reason to let Amanda's family know that she was at the hospital. Lee completely agreed. Billy went down to the lounge and found a coffee machine and purchased two cups of coffee. As he got back to the waiting room, he handed one of the cups to Lee. Lee gratefully took it as it gave himself to do with his hands since he was still pacing and rubbing his hand through his hair. Billy suggested that they both sit down and relax.

"You know Billy, I don't want you telling Amanda this but she did a hell of a job on this assignment. This was a tough one for her because she allowed her emotions to get in the way at first with Delano but then she pulled herself together and did what was needed to get the job down. When I fought with Hollander upstairs and saw the hate in his eyes, I realized just how much courage she had as she faced him. People don't learn that kind of courage. She might make a decent agent someday after all."

Billy smiled and said "Well time will tell Scarecrow. I'm glad you don't mind working with her as much these days though. Maybe your next case will be a little less dangerous."

"Well I still don't like Amanda being in the middle of all of this but I can't stop her."

"No, Amanda is definitely not someone who quits. I think it is what makes her so special."

The two men shared knowing looks as a Nurse came out to tell them that they could see her now.

Lee went ahead as the two men followed the nurse to the ER room where Amanda was recovering. She looked up as they both entered and said "What are you both doing here?" she said in her raspy voice.

"Mrs. King, do you remember what happened to you?" Billy asked.

"Yes Sir" Amanda Said. "That man Hollander found me after I flicked the lights to let Lee know that the doors were unlocked for him and he made me go upstairs with him. Lee had told me that he wasn't a nice man and the first time I met him, I knew he had been right. Well as we were going up the stairs, I knew Lee would need to know where I was if he was going to be able to save me so I decided to leave my purse on the stairs. I expected Hollander to realize what I was doing but he was so intent on getting me out of view that he didn't pay attention to what I did and hurried me into a bedroom. Then he began asking me all kinds of questions like who I work for and what had I heard in the study? I of course played dumb to all of it but he didn't believe me. Well it seems he had set me up with a Gstaad question about the skiing being awful and I had agreed with him. Lee didn't tell me if the skiing was good or not last season in Gstaad and I guess it was the best ever so he knew I was lying. I wouldn't tell him anything though especially since I really didn't know anything so he threatened to give me this drug if I didn't talk. He then started telling me that I would begin experiencing blurred vision and increased salivation with excessive sweating along with abdominal cramping and diarrhea. If I wasn't given the antidote, the muscarine would reach my brain and I would experience convulsions and low blood pressure and then I would go into cardiac arrest." Amanda finally stopped and took a breath.

"So what happened next?" Billy gently urged her to continue.

"Well sir, after he told me all that, I got scared and tried to tell him that I was just a housewife with two small boys at home but he didn't believe me. As I watched him ready the needle I screamed and then passed out just as he began to give me the injection. I'm afraid I don't remember much else until I woke up here in the hospital."

"That must have been really scary. How do you feel now?" Billy asked.

"Oh I feel fine. Sir, does my family know I'm here?"

Lee interrupted and said "No, Amanda. We didn't think it was necessary to tell them since you were going to be okay."

"Oh good. Thanks. Can I get out of here soon?"

Right at that moment the doctor walked in and announced that she could in fact go home. Since Lee had ridden with her in the ambulance, Billy suggested that he take them both with him and he could drop off Mrs. King first and then drop Lee off to get his car at the Greenwich house.

"Were Hollander and Delano captured?" Amanda asked.

"Yes Amanda. Lee had knocked Hollander out when he found him with you. When our agents arrived, Delano turned himself in and offered to testify against Hollander. We will work with him and get him a reduced sentence. He was so determined to save Quickie Chickie from Bankruptcy that he made a deal with the devil and I think after Hollander tried to kill you, Delano really regretted his choice." Billy told her.

Amanda smiled and said "I guess his fantasies didn't come true for him either."

Lee cleared his throat and said "Okay, well Billy and I will go out into the hallway so you can get dressed. We'll see you in a few minutes."

Later after Amanda was home, her Mother asked her how her evening with her old friends was. Amanda smiled and said "It was alright."

"Well dear, you are back pretty late. The evening must have been better than alright."

"No Mother. It was just alright. I just needed some time to realize that sometimes it is better to live in real life than in your fantasy life."

"Darling, I could have told you that lesson without you having to go out to learn it. Did I ever tell you about the time your father thought it would be a romantic idea to go skydiving together? He went to one of those skydiving outfits and paid a ridiculous amount of money for us to both jump out of a plane together and land in the middle of this big heart that had been drawn on the ground. I told him that I didn't want to do it but you father had some crazy romantic notion that I would look all sexy free falling from a plane. Let me tell you something Amanda, no one looks sexy when they are free falling from a plane with the wind whipping through their hair while being scared to death that their chute won't open. We both missed the heart target and landed in the middle of a farm, inside a huge pig pen; face first in the middle of a pile of mud and manure. I told that father of yours that the next time he daydreamed up some fantasy, to do it without me."

Amanda laughed and her mother joined in. Amanda hugged her Mother and told her she was going to bed. It had truly been a long day.

 **TBC**


	10. Chapter 10 - Did You Say Something Nice?

**Chapter 10 - Did you Say Something Nice to Me?**

Amanda was glad that the next day was Sunday and she could sleep in. She awoke to the smell of eggs and bacon cooking and was relieved that she truly was safely at home. She stretched and then got up and put on her robe and made her way down to greet her family. They had a nice breakfast together and the boys said that they were going to the park and practice their batting. Dotty told Amanda that she had decided to go spend time out in the garden as something had been coming in and damaging some of the flowers. She wanted to see if she could salvage them. Amanda told her Mother that she was going to go take a nice hot bath and relax for a bit. Her Mother looked at her and said "Dear? Are you okay? Do you want to talk about last night?"

"No, I'm fine Mother. I just decided I need to relax today. I don't do that often enough."

"True Darling. Well you enjoy your bath." Dotty said as she headed out the back door.

Amanda took her time and made her way upstairs to draw a bath for herself. As she set relaxing in her tub, she tried to remember what had happened the night before. She remembered bits and pieces of being in the ambulance. She was sure she had heard a man telling Lee that Amanda would be okay. Or did she dream that? She also had a memory of Lee touching her hair. He had never touched her hair before. Why would he do it now? She also remembered him saying that she had done a good job and that maybe she would be a good agent someday. No, he wouldn't have said that. Lee Stetson didn't like to ever admit when she did a good job. She remembered asking him to compliment her work when she had driven that RV all over the place while trying to avoid the military and the best she could get him to say was that her work was "okay." No, Lee Stetson could not have possibly complimented her, it was too hard for him to do that. Well unless he did it because he thought she was asleep? No, he still wouldn't have. She was sure of it. Did he hold her hand in the ambulance? Why did she remember all these things that seemed so out of character for him? Should she ask him about any of them?

After her bath, Amanda made her way downstairs and found that her Mother had come inside and had fallen asleep while reading on the sofa. She smiled at the sight of her. It was good to be home with her family. She knew her Mother really loved her and the boys. She was very thankful that she had agreed to move in with them. It made it a little difficult right now since she found herself lying to her Mother about where she was going or what she was doing but it would all work out. Amanda realized that if she was going to stay in this business, she really need to come up with a story for her Mother to explain where she was going during the day and night. She had told her Mother a few times that she was taking care of various dogs or cats; maybe that was the answer. She could start her own pet sitting business. Of course it wouldn't be real, it would just be for a cover. She felt so much better after deciding this. She really hated lying to her Mother and lately her excuses were getting really bad like the whole Chuck at the last minute calling an alumni party together. It would sound so much more convincing that someone had a sick pet.

Now that she had decided on that, her thoughts returned to the night before. She definitely had fun playing Victoria Greenwich. It wasn't often that anyone got to live out a fantasy and she did. She had never had much of anything, her parents gave her lots of love and she always had food on the table but she had never had really nice clothes and certainly not expensive jewelry. It was fun imaging that you owned lots of places around the world and traveled all the time. It would be even more fun to do all that with a handsome man beside of you. Those thoughts quickly brought back the memory that she had in the ambulance. She had been pretty out of it, but her mind kept telling her that Lee did say nice things in the ambulance to her. Why did she keep remembering this unless it happened? She knew that he was definitely tolerating her better these days. He had even been the one who had invited her to that Quickie Chickie Backer party. She knew for sure that Mr. Melrose didn't have anything to do with it. Did that mean that Lee was starting to consider her a partner? Nah, it was too soon for that and she hadn't had any training. Amanda was beginning to wonder if she would ever get any of the training that she was promised. Would training have made a difference last night? Amanda could still felt the bruise where Hollander had hit her in the face. If she had known how to hit, maybe she could have hit him back. Maybe she wouldn't have needed Lee to come save the day for her. How the heck did he get her out of there anyway? She was going to have to ask him when she saw him next.

The day passed quickly and soon it was dinner time. Amanda had cooked up a meatloaf with scalloped Potatoes and green beans. As usual the boys argued about eating their green beans but in the end agreed to do it to make their Mother happy. After all, Thanksgiving was right around the corner and that meant that Christmas wasn't far away. Now was not the time to argue about green beans. Everyone finished their dinner and Dotty and the boys went into the living room so that the boys could work on their homework. They had put it off all weekend and now needed to finish it up. Amanda took the dirty dishes into the kitchen and proceeded to clean them. A short time later, she heard a knock on her kitchen window. She knew immediately that it was Lee. It was becoming normal for him to show up there and knock to get her attention and she found it comforting to know he was around. Her Mother had the tv up pretty loud so Amanda was sure they hadn't heard anything. She could see that Lee had a big smile on his face as he motioned for her to come outside. She hurried to step out and close the door quietly behind her. She couldn't help but smile to see him. He said he had come by to check on her. It was nice to know he cared. She decided to ask him about the ambulance ride but if he did say anything nice to her, he sure wasn't going to admit it. She decided that it had to be the sedatives that they had given to her. As they were saying goodnight, she asked him how he had gotten her out of there and he told her that he had carried her. She blushed at the thought of him carrying her all the way down the stairs past all those people. He hadn't waited for the EMT's to do it or anyone else, Lee Stetson had cared enough about her that he had done it himself. She owed him her life in more ways than one and it made her feel even closer to him. As she turned to go back into the house, she thought one last time about what an incredible experience this past week had been. Maybe fantasies could be lousy but sometimes some of them were pretty good. Having a secret agent save her life had definitely once been a fantasy of hers and now it had come true. She wasn't quite ready to give up on all fantasies yet.

 **TBC**


	11. Chapter 11 - Kitchen Window

**Chapter 11 - Kitchen Window**

It was Sunday and Lee had gone to the agency for his debriefing on the Delano mess and to also make a statement for the police so that Hollander could be formally charged. He met up with Delano who asked how Victoria was. Lee told him that she was going to be okay and that he didn't need to worry about her anymore. He then proceeded to grill him about everything he knew about Hollander. Delano had not known anything about the plan to kill Singer nor had he had anything to do with what Hollander did to Amanda but he did sit and watch as Hollander killed Agent Dane and so Lee intended to make sure he got at least some sentence for his part in that but obviously Hollander was the more important target so Lee did agree to a lesser sentence if Delano followed through with testifying against Hollander. It was a long day as Lee finished up all those loose ends and his mind kept returning to Amanda and wondering if she was okay. The thought that he could have lost her really bothered him more than he wanted to admit. In the end, he knew he needed to see her; needed to see for himself that she was okay. So as he was leaving the agency, he found the Porsche making its way to Amanda's house. As he walked up to the back door window and could see Amanda was alone but seemed to be fine, he broke out into a relieved smile. He tapped on the window and motioned for her to come outside. He couldn't stop grinning, he was just so relieved that she was okay. As they leaned against her window talking, she suddenly began asking him about the ambulance ride. Thankfully she wasn't looking at him because he looked like a deer whose eyes just got caught in a car's headlights. Thankfully she also left the door open for him to blame the sedatives and he jumped at that excuse. Soon Amanda talked about going back inside and Lee reluctantly knew he had to head on to his lonely apartment. He had grown closer to Amanda during this assignment and he now realized that he didn't mind so much having her around. As much as Amanda would miss Victoria Greenwich in her life, Lee knew deep down that he would miss Amanda King if she suddenly went away. That meant he had to do even more to keep her safe. He was starting to realize that she was worth the effort though.

 **TBC**

 **A/N - And now comes the "In Between" part of the story. :)**


	12. Chapter 12 - Monday Morning

**Chapter 12 - Monday Morning**

The alarm clock went off and Lee slammed his hand on top of the snooze button. He hated Mondays. He hated Mornings. He hated having to get up early on a Monday Morning. When the alarm went off for the 5th time, Lee finally stumbled out of bed and made his way into the bathroom. After taking a shower and shaving, he felt a little better but still wished that he had the day off. He really needed a vacation soon. He drove to the agency and left his car in the lot. Scotty, the parking lot kid waved at him and yelled out a "Good Morning Mr. Stetson" at him. Lee halfheartedly waved back at him. As he entered the agency, he waved at the camera and said "Good Morning Mrs. Marston" into it and then entered the elevator that would bring him down to the bullpen. As he poured himself a cup of coffee, Francine walked over and asked him how the housewife was. "She's fine Francine. Don't tell me that you suddenly care?" Lee asked.

"Of course I care Lee. I'm not that stone hearted. This should finally convince her that this business is not meant for civilians. That will be the last we see of Amanda King." Francine said with a tone of gloat in her voice.

Lee looked at Francine and smiled and said "Don't count on it'

"What do you see in her Lee? I mean, you used to agree with me but lately it seems that you are starting to like her being around."

"She isn't that bad Francine. She's got a lot of spunk and a lot of courage. She isn't that much different from you, you know."

"That's not fair to compare her to me Lee and you know it!"

"No? Well maybe one day you will realize she isn't that bad. Besides, Amanda King is here to stay, at least for now, so maybe you should start getting used to it." Lee said as he turned to walk to Billy's office.

"That will be the day" Francine said under her breath and then headed back to her desk.

Lee knocked on Billy's door and then entered when Billy motioned for him to come in. Billy seemed to be very involved in some documents on his desk so Lee took a seat and waited for him. Billy finally looked up and said "Good Morning Lee. I heard that the whole Delano business is all set and that we can thank you and Amanda for putting the bad guys away."

"Yeah, we were able to use Amanda's statement from the hospital for her debriefing and I spent yesterday filling in my statements and filing formal charges. So we can move on now."

"Good, good. Well are you ready for your next assignment?" Billy asked.

"Sure, perhaps you can make this one involve pretty girls with long blonde hair, nice music, glasses of champagne, and candlelight dinners?" Lee suggested.

"Well Lee, maybe we can do some of that. How about some beautiful women, some nice live musical bands, some dancing groups and lots of balloons along with so much more. How does that sound?"

"Bill-Y! That sounds like you are baiting me. What's the catch?" Lee asked suspiciously.

"Oh no catch. Not really. No, you will be a part of one of the most important Thanksgiving Celebrations in this area."

"It still sounds like a catch. Oh My God Billy! Are you talking about a parade?"

"Awwww, but not just any parade. This is the Silver Springs Thanksgiving Parade. Maryland celebrates every year with this huge parade the Saturday before Thanksgiving so this year it is this coming Saturday, November 19th."

"What is so important about this parade?" Lee asked.

"Well two things really. First off President Reagan intends to be in his Presidential car in the parade so that means we need to help with security but secondly, we received a recorded message over the weekend. I think you need to hear this."

Billy set up a tape recorder on his desk. He pressed play and they heard this;

"The American people must pay the price for your government thinking that they have a right to imprison our people and take away our freedoms. We intend to hit you and hit you hard. Thanksgiving is a time when the American people think they have things to be thankful for. We will make sure that they remember that they don't. As you sit back enjoying the biggest parade in Maryland on the 19th, remember that others are sitting in your jail cells and are forced to live their lives like animals all because you deem them enemies against you. Free them by noon on Friday or else suffer the consequences. We have included a list with this tape. We expect your answer within 48 hours or else we will go ahead with making sure this parade is the most explosive one that this country has ever witnessed. We will be in touch in 24 hours with more information. This is not a joke, we are serious and many people will pay if you don't act on our demands."

Billy shut off the recorder. "This is very serious for sure Lee."

"So we call the parade off; easy solution."

"We can't do that. We did contact the Silver Springs Police Department and they said that there was no way to call it off without a huge backlash. This parade is planned from the time the last one ends and there is a lot of money and time put into those preparations. No one is going to be happy with any government official who agrees to call it off and none of them are willing to; considering their necks would be on the chopping block during the elections."

Lee shook his head and said "So because they are afraid of losing their office, they are willing to risk everyone's lives?"

"Essentially yes but they also said that the state depends on all the tourist dollars that come from people traveling to see the parade. To shut it down less than a week before means that people who planned to travel to watch it would be out their traveling costs and sure would be demanding refunds on hotels and airline tickets among other things. It would financially stress that area."

"What about the President? Surely he at least understands that he can't attend?" Lee asked.

"We have talked to President Reagan and he feels that if he didn't attend, it would look suspicious and might scare the people."

"Don't we want them to be scared and to know what is going on for their own safety so they are on alert?" Lee asked.

"We can't risk that Lee. No, we have to figure out what they are planning and stop it. You have less than 5 days to do that. The first step is that you need to volunteer to be in the parade. Now you can have Francine be your partner and she can watch your back." Billy suggested.

"Francine? Really Billy? And what is our cover in this parade? Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus?"

"Actually that part was taken already. Anything that has an actual costume that covers your face and makes it hard to see is not a good idea. So we contacted the famous Korny Klowns and since they are a humanitarian group, they were quick to offer their assistance. They have offered spots for two agents in their group for the parade and have asked those two people to show up at 9am tomorrow at their training camp to begin learning the routines. So it is just a matter of getting you and Francine there tomorrow so you can learn some things to look legitimate and then have you begin investigating so you can figure out what the hell is going on." Billy responded.

"Okay Billy. But I don't want Francine to be a clown with me. Francine needs to begin checking out the area and see if she can talk to some of our "family" there to find out whatever she can. Francine would never be able to pull off being a clown. I will have a hard enough time myself. We need someone who is good at these children type things."

"I take it that you have someone else in mind?" Billy asked with a smile.

"I do if she will agree to it." Lee said without acknowledging Billy's grin.

"I'm sure she will if you ask her nicely." Billy couldn't help but continue to grin as he waved Lee out of his office while yelling out to Francine to come in so he could give her the new assignment.

Lee found himself whistling as he headed out to his car. He soon found himself heading to Arlington.

 **TBC**

 **(A/N – The Silver Springs Parade in MD really does exist and is a huge event for the area. The Kapital Klowns are also a real group and are very popular in the area. Since I don't have permission to use their name, I changed it.**


	13. Chapter 13 - The Perfect Cover

**Chapter 13 - The Perfect Cover**

Amanda had watched her sons head out to the school bus and then found out that her Mother had plans to spend the day shopping with an old friend. That left Amanda alone in the house so she decided to do some cleaning and get caught back up on the laundry. As she was finishing cleaning the breakfast dishes, there was a knock on her kitchen window. She smiled as she looked up to see Lee outside again just over 15 hours from the last time he had been there. She opened the door and invited him in since no one was around.

"Do you want a cup of coffee?" She asked.

"Do you have any made? I don't want you to make it special for me." Lee answered.

"Yes, I have still half a pot left." Amanda said as she poured them both a cup and gestured for him to have a seat. "So what brings you back by here today?"

"Amanda, Billy has another important assignment for me and I was hoping you could help me with it. Do you feel up to working again so soon after your hospital stay?"

"Oh I'm fine like I told you last night. What's the assignment?" Amanda asked.

"We are going to be clowns in the Silver Springs Thanksgiving Parade." Lee answered.

"Oh My Gosh! Really? We love that parade. We go every year. They have the best floats, tons of beautiful balloons, talented marching bands, lots of acrobats, police on horses, trained dogs, antique fire trucks and police cars and lots of clowns. Wait. Why are we going to be in this parade as clowns Lee?" Amanda finally took a breath and asked.

"Amanda, we have received a threatening tape saying that something bad is going to happen at this parade if we don't release 250 imprisoned terrorists. We have to try to figure out what that is and we need to stop it."

"Why don't they just call the parade off?"

"It isn't that easy. A lot of powerful people want this parade to continue due to the time and expense of it. No, we are expected to stop the trouble before it starts and we needed a cover so the Korny Klowns were kind enough to let us join them in the parade. We need to be at their training camp at 9am tomorrow. Can you meet me at the office at 7:30am and we'll go over together?"

"Sure, do I need to bring any makeup or will they provide everything?"

"They will be providing everything we need, I've been told." Lee confirmed.

"Okay, Lee can I ask a questions?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Why didn't Francine get assigned this?"

"Amanda? Really? You think Francine would be able to deal with children and make people laugh?"

Amanda giggled and said "You have a point. Okay, well I'll see you tomorrow at 7:30 then." Lee reluctantly got up and headed for the door.

"Enjoy the rest of your day Amanda. We only have until Friday at noon so this is going to be a busy week. What will you tell your Mother?"

"Oh, I have that all figured out. I'm going to tell Mother that I have decided to start a pet sitting business. That way I can be gone all hours of the day or night and I will have a good reason."

"That's brilliant Amanda" Lee said with a proud grin. She really did amaze him at times. It truly was a great cover story for many reasons.

Amanda looked at Lee and realized that he had given her a compliment. "Thanks Lee" she said as she blushed.

"Bye Amanda"

"Bye Lee"

Amanda decided that if she was going to be that busy for the next few days, she had better get this laundry done as she headed for the laundry area.

 **TBC**


	14. Chapter 14 - Be a Clown

**Chapter 14 - Be a Clown**

Amanda and Lee both arrived at the agency at exactly 7:30am. It was decided that it would best to take Amanda's car to the training camp so Lee parked the Porsche in the agency parking lot. They arrived at the training camp well before 9am and decided to walk around. As they entered the building, a tall, skinny man asked him if he could help them. They told him who they were and that they were there for training and he smiled and introduced himself "Hi, welcome aboard, my name is Jared Watkins. I'm actually the head clown. Why don't you follow me and we'll begin by choosing your outfits and make up."

Lee and Amanda followed Jared to a huge costume room. He introduced them to Kelly who would help them pick out their individual look. It was soon decided that Lee should sport a red wig while Amanda would wear a yellow wig. They both would have completely white faces and of course the trademark red noses. Amanda would have pink painted on her cheeks while Lee would have thick, black eyebrows drawn on where his normal brows would be. They would both be given bright red smiles for mouths. Lee would wear a cowboy hat and an exaggerated cowboy outfit complete with suspenders while Amanda would wear a blue and white polka dot outfit that included baggy pants and big puffy shirt with long sleeves. Kelly gave her several hats to choose from and she settled on a big frumpy one that tied under her chin so she could move around a lot and not worry about it falling off. Both of them would have the trademark big clown shoes. Kelly helped prepare them so they would have a better image of their look and could create their part for that image. When she was done, no one would have recognized either of them. Kelly left them alone as she went to help a new arrival. Lee and Amanda stood staring at each other for a moment and then they both began talking at once. After chuckling, Lee told Amanda to go first. "I think we look great. Can we pull this off?" She said.

"I think I look dumb. I don't know if this was such a great idea" Lee said.

"Come on Lee, it will work out fine. You just have to loosen up a bit. Clowns are fun so just have fun with it. Besides you look great!"

"Amanda, this is not a fun matter." Lee said while ignoring the compliment.

"I know that! But if we don't act like clowns, our cover will be blown right?" Amanda pressed.

Lee sighed, he knew she was right. "Yes, that is true. Well I hope I can pull this off."

"We will" Amanda said with renewed confidence.

"How can you even walk in these shoes? I feel like...well like a clown!" Lee exclaimed.

Amanda began laughing and reached over and honked his nose. "You look like one too"

"AMANDA" Lee said while pretending to be upset.

Jared appeared in the doorway at that moment and took a moment to look them both over. "You both look great. Follow me."

He led them out to a large conference type room and motioned for them to sit down. They both laughed as they struggled to sit in the chair like normal and then just decided to do it clownlike. They were quite a sight to see.

"Do either of you have any talents? Have you ever played a clown before?"

Lee grimaced and said "No, none of my covers have ever included dressing up and acting like a clown I can safely say."

"What about you Mrs. King?"

"No, not really. I've done some small stuff for the school but nothing that is worth really mentioning."

"Why did you mention it then?" Lee asked.

"What?" Amanda said.

"Why do people say things aren't mentioning and then mention them anyway? I have never understood that."

"Mr. Stetson, I was just letting Jared know that unlike you, I can at least attempt to do something fun and have tried it in the past. If it wasn't for this case, you would never do anything like this."

"You got that right" Lee responded.

Jared cleared his throat. It was interesting to watch the two of them interact, they acted like an old married couple. Therefore, it only made sense to stage them that way for the parade. "Okay, well I can see the one place you both have a great deal of talent, you like to argue with each other."

"No we don't" Amanda and Lee said at the same time and then looked at each other and both started giggling. "Okay, maybe we do argue a bit" Lee admitted.

"Well I think we can take that and use it to create an "act" for you to play out during the parade. It should make it fun for both of you while making the kids laugh and definitely making sure no one would guess that you aren't really clowns. Are you willing to try?"

"Sure, what do we have to do?" Amanda asked.

"Okay then, I'm going to leave you in the hands of one our best. We call him Lefty because he lost his right hand in a car accident which is why he decided to be a clown. He was tired of kids being scared of him not having a hand so if he makes them laugh, they don't notice his hand. Come on, I'll take you to him."

Jared led the way to another room where several clowns were practicing. They all looked up when he entered the room and Jared motioned for one of them to come over. 

"Amanda and Lee; this is Lefty. He's one of the best and I know he can help you come up with something fun."

"Hi Little Lady" Lefty held out his hand to shake Amanda's. As she touched his hand, she jumped back and let out a little scream. Lee found himself immediately reaching for his gun when he realized that Amanda was laughing. Lefty had a hand buzzer on his palm and had given Amanda a little surprise when he shook her hand. "Are you okay Amanda?" Lee asked not sure if he was enjoying this Lefty dude.

"I'm fine Lee. Lighten up, it was all in fun." Amanda said though she was finding it hard not to laugh at the look of Lee's face when he thought Lefty had hurt her. Even his painted on smile hadn't covered up his anger.

Jared clapped Lee on the back and said "Lighten up. You have to expect practical jokes around these guys or else you won't make a very good clown. Okay?"

Lee took a deep breath and said "Okay, sorry. I didn't meant to get upset. When Amanda yelped, I thought he had hurt her."

"I know. It is okay though. So in watching the two of you, I realized that the best way to utilize you is to have you come up with a "husband and wife" act."

"We aren't married" Lee and Amanda both said at the same time and then looked at each other.

"I know, I know but you can do the act like you are and no one will care. It can be a fun act and it should get some good chuckles on the parade route."

"What would we have to do sir?" Amanda asked.

"Oh, it would be more slapstick than what the other clowns will be doing. You'll spend time working the crowd to get laughs. So Lee, why don't we have you be the brat clown. We'll load you up with some balloons that are attached to your arm that have additional strings attached to each of them. You will walk up to a child in the crowd and ask them if they want a balloon. If they say yes, just hand them one of the additional strings and quickly walk away leaving them with no balloon and just a string. Meanwhile Amanda will have a huge basket filled with pieces of candy that she is handing out to kids in the crowd and when she sees what has happened, she will go up to the child and act all shocked that he or she got left with no balloon so Amanda will hand them a piece of candy while yelling at Lee who will keep walking slowly away. Amanda will quickly walk up behind you and will take off her shoe so she can smack you in the butt. Lee will whip around and the two of you will begin an argument about her hitting you and she'll scold you for not giving that poor child a balloon and Lee, you will say that you are sorry and then the two of you will continue walking the parade route hand in hand as if you have made up. Then suddenly Lee will leave you and head to a new child and start the whole thing over. Does that sound like something you can do?"

Amanda and Lee both agreed that it sounded fun and would give them a good cover while allowing them both to keep an eye in the crowd in case they saw any suspicious movements. They could be wearing hidden ear pieces and microphones so they could stay in communication with each other and the rest of the agency team in case something developed. .

"Okay, so let's get started." Jared said. "Lefty will help you rig the balloons. Meanwhile I'll let you use room C to practice your routine. Do you think you will need any help creating it or do you both want to try on your own?" Jared asked.

Lee looked at Amanda and said "I think we can handle this. After all it is our job to play the parts of others now and then so we should be able to do this with no problem."

Amanda nodded and said "Yes sir, Lee and I can figure it out."

"Okay, well you only really have today since I'm sure you will want to spend the rest of the week getting to know the other parade marchers so you can try to figure out what is going on, am I correct?" Jared asked.

Lee nodded and said "That is the plan. But this routine that you have described seems like it won't take long to perfect so I think we will be fine."

"Okay, give Lefty a few minutes to provide your prop and then good luck."

Jared told them that he would be in his office if they needed him and then exited the room. It took Lefty very little time to produce the balloon prop and soon Amanda and Lee were able to enter Room C. It was a large cheery room with a lot of windows and natural light. Amanda put her purse down on a table that was inside the door and turned to Lee and said "Okay, so how do you want to start?"

"Amanda, this is going to be really easy. I doubt we even need to practice it. So I'm going to walk down the line of people who are watching the parade, find a child and offer them a balloon. Then I'll pull one of the fake strings and hand it to her and walk away." Lee demonstrated it and was amazed at how easily it did work. In fact the whole routine was really easy to learn and in no time they felt they had it under control and would be able to do it during the parade. It was nearly 1pm so they went to the costume room and took off their clown outfits, cleaned off the makeup and then went to Jared's office to let him know that they were all set. Jared gave them a list of all the other parade participants so they could begin investigating and try to determine who might be a concern. They thanked him and then headed out.

"Can I buy you some lunch?" Lee asked Amanda.

"That would be nice." Amanda smiled at him. "As long as it isn't from Quickie Chickie."

Lee laughed and said "No, how about just a burger from the cafe on the corner by the agency."

"That sounds good. Thanks Lee."

"Sure, anytime."

They drove in silence to the cafe. Lee helped Amanda out of the car and guided her into the cafe. After they had ordered, they began talking quietly about their game plan.

"So I think we should take that list and start looking into the backgrounds of each of the groups scheduled to see if there is anything that throws up a red flag. Do you have anywhere you need to be or can you help me?" Lee asked.

"No, I'm yours for the day." Amanda quickly blushed when she realized how that sounded. Lee's dimples came out as he smiled and said "Amanda, I had no idea you were that kind of woman."

Amanda said "LEE! You know that wasn't what I meant. Does the agency have any idea who is responsible for this?" She quickly changed the subject.

"No, but I'm hoping we received that second recording by the time we get back. Maybe there will be a clue on it."

They finished their lunch and then headed back to the agency. Along the way Amanda asked "Did anyone check over the list of terrorists that they want freed to see if there was a kind of connection between them?"

Lee looked at Amanda and felt like an idiot. Why didn't he think to do that? They were so busy trying to figure out what was being planned and by who, they hadn't even thought about trying to connect the dots of why.

"I'm sure Billy is doing that right now." Lee said in a hurry.

"Okay, I wonder if there is a connection." Amanda thought out loud.

They arrived at the agency and Lee parked the car. Scotty came over to them and said "Hi Mrs. King, Mr. Stetson. It's a beautiful day."

Amanda smiled at him and said "Yes it is. Enjoy this fall weather while you can. Are you all ready for Thanksgiving?"

"Yes Mrs. King. My mom does all the cooking and I get to do all the eating." He grinned at his joke and Amanda smiled with him. Lee said "Well we are in a rush. Have a good day." He placed his hand on the small of Amanda's back and guided her to the building.

"Lee! That was rude. He's a good kid."

"He may be, but we have a job to do Amanda."

"I realize that, but there is no need to be rude."

Lee sighed. The woman just had to be nice to everyone. How can anyone be so nice to everyone? He would never understand it.

As they entered into the agency, Lee waved at the camera and said "Hi Mrs. Marston."

"Lee, I have always wondered about that. Why doesn't Mrs. Marston sit in this entrance?"

"It isn't safe for her to be here. It is much safer for her to be upstairs and watch the security displays."

"Why?"

"Oh Amanda, that's a need to know. Just trust me, she is much happier upstairs."

Amanda sighed and wondered if she would ever figure out all these quirks that the agency had.

They made their way into the elevator and went below to the bullpen. As soon as they arrived, Billy spotted them and waved them into his office.

"They contacted us with another recording and you are going to want to hear this." Billy said.

The tone of his voice made it very clear that it wasn't good news. Lee prepared for the worse.

 **TBC**


	15. Chapter 15 - What's the Connection?

**Chapter 15 -What's the Connection?**

Amanda sat down in one of the chairs opposite Billy's desk while Lee started to pace. Billy set up the tape player on his desk and pushed play. Soon the following was heard from the tape:

"We have given you 24 hours to start making preparations to release a list of people that you have deemed criminals and imprisoned. We have people on the inside and they have let us know that nothing has begun to take place to release these people. We do not think you are taking our request seriously enough so we have decided to explain things a little clearer to you. First off, we are sure you know that Thanksgiving is considered a peaceful holiday so tragedy happening on that day will not look good for your government. Secondly, we are sure you know where we intend to show our unhappiness but are not sure what we intend to do. Let us give you some ideas of what we could do. We could plant bombs around the parade route that would go off all at once and take out hundreds if not thousands of people. We could release a gas chemical that would kill anything and anyone within a 20 block radius. We could even open fire on all the parade goers and kill hundreds of innocent children. Are you really willing to gamble so many lives? Oh and if you are considering canceling the parade, keep in mind that our plans can travel and our second choice target will not be announced ahead of time like this. You are running out of time. Show us that you are preparing to let our people go or know that there will be a lot of blood on your hands on Saturday."

The tape ended. Lee had listened intently during the playback but now he was furiously pacing and running his hand through his hair.

"Lee, you are going to give yourself a heart attack. Sit down!" Billy demanded. Lee sighed and took a seat next to Amanda.

"Has Francine found out anything?" Lee asked.

"We are pretty sure we know who is behind all of this and it isn't good. There is a terrorist group called The Mountebank League and they have suddenly become very active in the United States. Billy said.

"Sir, where are they originally from?" Amanda asked.

"They are from various countries. They recruit anyone who is unhappy with the way their Government is running and convince them to join up. In order to join, each member must donate a large amount of money to the league and if they can't afford it, they have to find it in other ways."

"Do you mean steal it sir?" Amanda asked.

"They steal it or they kidnap people and ransom them or some get involved with the drug trade" Billy answered.

Lee interrupted and said "So do all these people they want released all have ties to this League?"

"That is something we need to figure out." Billy recommended.

"Billy, there 250 people on that list!" Lee complained.

"Then I guess you had better get busy" Billy said with a frown.

"Yes Sir. I was just asking Lee earlier if we knew what the connection was. If they are all members of the league, than that would make sense." Amanda observed.

"Mrs. King, I'm giving you a temporary DF60 computer access code so you can help Lee research."

"Thank you sir. If we can both work, it will help the research go faster."

"Are you familiar with computers Amanda?" Billy asked.

"I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't had a lot of experience with them but if someone can show me how to operate one, I'm sure I'll pick it up quickly."

"Lee? Do you think you can show Amanda or should I call Leatherneck up to train her?"

Lee immediately responded and said "I'll handle it Billy."

"Good, then let's get moving folks! Time is ticking by way too quickly."

Lee guided Amanda out to an empty desk in the bullpen near his desk and pulled his chair over. He showed Amanda how to turn on the computer, how to login, and then how to use the agency's program to do routine searches on people's backgrounds. He pointed out the print function and asked her if she had any questions. It had been a little hard to concentrate as Amanda had sat in front of Lee so that she had the best view of the screen and he had put his arms through either side of her body to reach the keyboard. She had to keep reminding herself that this was her job and that he was just making sure she could see the screen. The fact that he was that close shouldn't mean anything. If only he didn't smell so good. As soon as he finished showing her, she told him that she should be all set. It was getting a little hard to breathe while he was so close to her. He moved back to his desk but told her to ask questions if she got stuck. They divided the list and soon both were busy looking up the backgrounds of everyone on the list.

Amanda could tell that this was going to take some time so she picked up the phone and called her Mother. "Hi Mother, I just wanted to let you know that I was going to be a little late tonight and to not hold dinner for me. Can you check the boys homework and make sure they are all set for school tomorrow?" After a slight pause as Amanda listened to her Mother she then said "Yes, I forgot to tell you that I have started a service and wouldn't you know it; my very first client has to be out late tonight and his cat is throwing up hairballs. I don't dare to leave him until his owner gets home and that won't be until late as he had a date." There was another pause and then Amanda said "Well Fluffy just threw up again Mother and I have to go clean the rug up before that mess sets in. We'll talk more about this in the morning, okay? I love you. Bye." Amanda hung up the phone and got back to work.

It took time to quickly read the profiles of each of the prisoners but soon it became apparent that some of them were definitely members of the League but others either were not or hadn't admitted to it yet. Soon it was determined that out of the 250 people, 185 were known League members while 65 didn't seem to have any ties to the league. Amanda list had 45 of them while Lee's list only had 20.

"Lee, I did notice that the 45 that are on my list have similar backgrounds."

"In what way?" Lee asked.

"All of them lost at least one family member due to some sort of police involvement."

"Involvement?" Lee asked.

"Yes, it appears that each of them lost a member of their family due to a police officer mistakenly killing them.

"Really? Let's check my list."

Lee and Amanda quickly went through the last 20 people and found that each of them also had lost family members due to some sort of police involvement or error. In looking back through the 185 confirmed members of the league, they couldn't find that any of them shared this similarity. They made their way to Billy's office and told him what they had found. "Good work you two!" Amanda couldn't help but beam because it was the first time that Lee had allowed her to do something so important with him. Usually she was just a cover or there to do busy work. Apparently the whole scare at the Delano house was still affecting him.

"Okay, well it is after midnight. Why don't you two go home and get some sleep. It's going to be another long day tomorrow and I'm sure we could all use some rest."

"Sounds good to me Billy." Lee said and Amanda nodded her agreement.

"Oh Mrs. King, was your Mother concerned about you being out so late tonight?" Billy asked. Amanda told Billy about her new cover story and his grin got wider as she finished. "That's great!" He said. "A brilliant idea, isn't it Lee?"

Lee nodded and said "Yes, it was definitely a great idea." Amanda found herself blushing at the uncommon compliments from the two of them.

"Let me walk you to your car." Lee said to Amanda.

"Okay."

As they were walking, Lee asked "Will you be okay to drive home?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks for asking." They soon reach her car and Lee opened the door so he could help her inside.

"Okay then drive safe and I'll see you at 8am tomorrow."

"Thanks, you drive safe too." Amanda told him as she backed out of her spot and headed home. She wasn't sure how long it would last but Lee was definitely treating her a little better than he had in the past.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16 - Good Instincts

**Chapter 16 - Good Instincts**

When Lee got home, he found it impossible to go right to bed. He poured himself a glass full of scotch and sat down on his couch. He loosened his tie and found himself thinking about his day. It had actually been fun learning the clown routine with Amanda. They did seem to function well together as a team. Wait a minute; they were **not** a team. No, not at the agency at least but maybe for this parade thing. Isn't that really why he wanted Amanda instead of Francine? He was fond of Francine but they didn't seem to have the connection that he was finding with Amanda. It scared him how much she seemed to know him and seemed to be able to sense what he was going to do before he did it. How was that possible when he had only known her for a few short months?

On top of that, he didn't want to admit it but Billy was right. She did have great instincts for this line of work. Her idea to find a connection among the prisoners had been spot on and she had even figured out the secondary connection. He hadn't paid any attention to that when he was researching. She had also picked up the computer incredibly fast. It had taken Lee a few weeks to get comfortable with using one when they began forcing the agents to use them for their research. He hated the stupid box, it was slow, annoying and didn't always do what he asked. Yet, Amanda never complained and went through the list as quickly as Lee even though she had never used the computer before. Thinking about that brought back the memories of his training time with her. He had no idea what he was thinking when he told her to sit in front and he would sit in back and type from behind her. He wondered if she realized how much he struggled to keep his mind on what he was doing. She smelled good and he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss her. NO, stop it! This was Amanda and he knew she was off limits. That is why he had hurried up her training and then moved back to his own desk. It had taken all his will power to keep his hands off her as he envisioned moving her hair and revealing the back of her neck so he could kiss the area there. What the hell was wrong with him? Then it dawned on him that he had been so busy that he had very little time for dating. When this case was over, he really needed to find some time to go out with a woman and have a little sack action. He apparently was very much lacking and that was why he was thinking of Amanda in this way. Thankfully he hadn't been stupid and acted on any of it.

If he was going to function at all tomorrow, he really needed to get to bed though. He just hoped that his mind would stop replaying the day and that he wouldn't end up having those weird erotic dreams that he had been having lately.

 **TBC**


	17. Chapter 17 -When It Begins to Make Sense

**Chapter 17 - When It Begins to Make Sense**

The next day Amanda arrived at the agency just before 8am and found that Lee hadn't arrived yet. She went to the coffee pot and started a fresh pot. Just as it finished, Lee walked into the bullpen; looking very tired. Amanda couldn't help but think that he should have canceled his apparent date last night since they left so late. She decided not to call him on it. Francine couldn't help herself however. "Wow Lee, it looks like whatever girl you tangled with last night wore you completely out. She must have been something."

"Can it Francine" Lee said.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve? Well I sure hope you don't fall asleep while you are out investigating today." Francine said with a sideways smirk.

Amanda decided to butt in and said "Good Morning Lee. Here's your coffee. It's from a fresh pot."

"Thank you Amanda." Lee added a little cream and then sat down at his desk with it. Amanda followed him and asked "So what are the plans today?"

Lee looked at her and said "We are going to go visit with some of the groups that will be in the parade. I would go alone but I need you to complete our cover."

"Okay, that sounds good to me." Amanda was glad he was including her but after yesterday, she had hoped that he would continue to acknowledge that she was more valuable than just a cover to him. She found herself sighing out loud.

"What's the matter Amanda? Are you already bored with what we do here dear?" Francine had heard the sigh and decided to speak up. Amanda was already going out in the field more than she did and Francine Desmond was a highly trained Operative so it wasn't fair that Amanda was getting to work with Lee while she was stuck behind a desk.

Amanda looked up with a startled look. She hadn't realized that Francine was close enough to hear the sigh. "Oh No Francine, I just hope we can find out something soon since people's lives are at risk.

"I agree." Lee said as he came back into earshot of the conversation. "Are you ready to go?" He asked Amanda.

"Yes." She replied.

Lee guided her out to his car and helped her inside. He then went to the driver's side and got in and headed toward Maryland.

"So who are we going to visit?"

"I thought we would start with the Maryland Police Department. I brought the lists with me. I want to see if any of the names jump out at them." Lee answered.

They soon arrived in front of the 3rd District Police Station which handled Silver Spring. Lee guided Amanda inside and they walked up to the front desk and asked for the Captain. They were asked for what purpose and Lee showed the desk Sargent his badge. He asked them to take a seat while he summoned his Captain. They had barely sat down when Captain Morgan appeared and gestured them into a conference room.

"Hi Lee, It's been a long time." Captain Morgan said as he shook Lee's hand. "Who is this beautiful woman with you? Your new partner?"

"No, she's just a civilian who helps me out sometimes on cases." Lee said. Amanda offered her hand and introduced herself. The Captain took her hand and kissed it. Amanda couldn't help but notice the strange look that crept across Lee's face when he did. "Can we get down to business?" Lee interrupted the moment.

"What brings you out this way?" The Captain asked.

I have a list of names of people who are guests in our Federal Prison right now and I'm wondering if you could take a look and see if any of them rings a bell." Lee replied as he explained that the parade had been threatened.

"Why bring the list to me? Why not bring it to the State Police?" Captain Morgan asked.

Lee's voice softened and he said "Jake, you know as well as I do that you are one of the best. You should be a State Police Captain instead of just a Captain in a District. It wasn't fair what happened to you."

"It's just all part of the politics in this line of work. I'm sure you see it in your line of work also Lee."

"Nothing like what they did to you though Jake. You had 20 years on the force. You deserved that promotion." Lee responded.

"No use crying over spilled milk. Let me see the list." The Captain suggested.

As he began looking at it, he inhaled sharply several time. Lee watched his reaction and finally said "You recognize some of them, don't you?"

"This is bad news Lee. A lot of these men were put in jail because of me. I put them there. Do you think they are targeting this parade because of that?"

"I'm not sure." Lee said as he ran his hand through his hair. "It could be. What about this list?" Lee took out the list of the known members of the League and handed it to the Captain. Immediately the Captain began checking off name after name after name.

"Lee, I know a lot of these people. I was mostly directly responsible for their arrests and convictions."

"Jake, the first list seems to have a bond with each other because each of them lost a family member due to some sort of police involvement. As you can see, that list is much smaller though. Why do you think they are being included in all of this?"

"Maybe because they hate the police already so they will be easy to recruit to join the League. Perhaps they have already joined the league while in the jail."

Amanda finally spoke up and said "Lee, remember on the tape, the person had said that they knew that nothing had been started to release the prisoners. It was like the person had an inside source. Do you think that same inside source could be recruiting these people to the cause?"

"It could be. It also sounds like maybe they have a reason to break them out now. I wonder what they are up to." Lee Pondered.

"I might be able to answer that." Jake suggested. "There is a large convoy of arms and money being transported into this area on that day. They plan to move it here to keep it safe and then move it to its destination on Thanksgiving Day. Since so many people travel on that day, the government decided it might be a safe time to set up small trucks to make the trip. It is starting in Boston and being driven to Chicago."

"Why doesn't the agency know about this and why are they doing this?" Lee asked.

"It was a Need to Know. They intend to ship it all out by private plane to El Salvador." Captain Morgan explained.

"Under whose authority?" Lee asked.

"Why President Reagan's of course."

Lee stood and stared at his friend. "President Reagan intends to be in this parade." Lee finally said.

"I know" Jake said quietly.

Lee began pacing again. "Lee, what does this all mean?" Amanda asked as she wasn't quite sure she was following the whole conversation.

"I'm not completely sure Amanda but it doesn't look good at all. Jake, will you have officers in the parade?"

"Yes, we always send out the old antique police cars to ride in the parade. There will be 5 cars total there along with the normal police security for the parade." Jake informed him.

"How are they going to move them into this area without suspicion?" Lee asked.

Jake looked down on the floor and said "You aren't going to like this answer."

"Tell me anyway." Lee demanded.

"The trucks are going to pull the floats in the parade so that they can be watched the whole time."

"Oh my God. So there is a good chance that the insider knows this and that is why the parade is being targeted. We have to stop the parade. Thousands of lives will be at stake if they realize that the trucks are right there and decide they are taking them no matter what." Lee insisted. "The release of the prisoners is a way to blindside everything. It is to keep us looking in the wrong direction but at the same time gives the League plenty of help if they do get them released. The parade is in danger no matter whether they are released or not. Amanda, we have to get back to the agency. We have to figure out how to stop this parade."

Lee shook Jake's hand and told him that he would be in touch as he hurried Amanda back out to his car and they headed back to the agency. There wasn't a moment to spare.

 **TBC**


	18. Chap 18- They Aren't Taking this Serious

**Chapter 18 - They Aren't Taking This Serious Enough**

He pounded his fist down on the table. "Why are they not acting on our threats?"

The man in front of him said "I'm not sure sir. There have been no orders to prepare any of the prisoners for release."

The first man glared at his companion. "Can't you find out what is going on?"

"Not without giving it away that I'm in on it. How would I explain why I would want to know that information? Besides, I work down with the prisoners. I don't work for the agency. I can't just suddenly show up at their office and start asking questions."

The man in charge sighed and said "No, you are right. Were you at least able to get assigned to be in one of the antique police cars during the parade?"

The second man smiled and said "I sure did Boss. From what I understand, the President is going to be sandwiched in between all of us as added security."

"Very good! That part of the plan is working out nicely. We just need to get those prisoners released to help us with the movement of that weapons convoy now. I guess we are going to have to send something a little more forceful to the agency to get their attention. Perhaps a simple demonstration of our abilities will help." The Boss said with a grin.

"What do you have in mind Boss?"

"Don't you worry about that! I will take care of it. Aren't you supposed to be on duty in an hour?"

"Yes Boss. I'll call you later. I can't wait to see what the surprise is."

The Boss smiled as the man left. Yes, this would definitely make sure that they finally paid attention and realized that the League was serious.

 **TBC**


	19. Chapt 19 - Trying to Put It All Together

**Chapter 19 - Trying to Put It All Together**

Lee and Amanda headed towards the agency. Once they were back in the car, Amanda asked about Jake.

"Jake and I met one day at a crime scene. I had recently joined the agency and while investigating a case, I was witness to a young Mother be murdered in front of her 3 year old child."

"Oh My Gosh" Amanda exclaimed. "I'm sorry but that's awful. Please go on."

"Well Jake was the officer on the scene first and he could tell that I wasn't handling it well so he pulled me aside and shared some of his wisdom with me. He helped me through that day. Later on, we became friends and occasionally would go out to a bar together to relax after a hard day at work. He had worked hard to get where he was. He put in for a promotion to the Maryland's State Police for the position of Captain. He should have easily gotten the promotion but at the last minute, a Politician who hadn't liked that he had testified against him on a bribery case was able to throw his weight around and block the promotion. Jake was devastated. He had done everything right and now the system that he loved had betrayed him. He immediately applied for this Captain's job and got it. He didn't want to leave law enforcement but he didn't want to stay in a department that could easily be influenced by big money either. I lost touch with him the last couple of years because well you know, I've been busy and so has he. It was nice to see him today and to know he is on our side."

"That's so sad." Amanda said as they arrived at the agency. They made their way to Billy's office and knocked on his door. He looked out and saw it was them and motioned for them to come in. They entered and Lee closed the door behind him while closing the blinds also. He then filled Billy in on what they knew. Billy's frown grew deeper by the minute and soon he pulled open his drawer and took out a container and popped something into his mouth. He quietly returned the container to his desk drawer and waited for Lee to finish. He then slumped down into his seat and pounded his desk while saying "Damn It Man, I can't believe they didn't alert the agency to something this big. Why are they moving weapons and that kind of money without our help or at least letting us know it is happening? Now this is all making sense. But if we didn't know, how did the League find out?"

"It has to be an inside informant Billy. It can't be one of ours since we didn't even know so it has to be someone involved in the operation."

"Are you sure Lee?" Amanda asked.

Lee shot a look at Amanda and said "Yes I'm sure Amanda. I have years of experience in this sort of thing. Why are you asking?"

"I don't know. I keep thinking about who would have reason to know about the convoy. The President must know right?"

"I'm sure they do Mrs. King. I doubt that it was anyone involved with the President's detail though. Those men are screened really well." Billy said

"No, but what if someone else in the parade knew about it?" Amanda pondered on.

"Who Amanda? You think someone in Jake's police Department is responsible?" Lee asked.

"I don't know Lee. I just keep thinking it has to be someone on the parade route." Amanda said.

Lee sighed. "Well it's getting late I think now that we know what is going on, that Francine should take your spot in the parade."

"But Lee, that's not fair. You are just afraid that I will solve our case before you do."

"It's my case." Lee said.

"What?"

"My Case. It's my case. This was never an "Our Case" situation. I simply asked you to help with my cover. Now I'm taking that request back."

"You can't just take something like that back Lee. I've worked just as hard as you on this and you know that I contributed too."

"OKAY ENOUGH!" Billy said. "Boy you two bicker like you were an old married couple."

"But Billy, she isn't safe anymore. She's a civilian. We can't risk sending a civilian into such a dangerous situation."

"I'm right here Lee. You are talking about me but I'm right here." Amanda stood up and glared at him with her fists clenched.

Billy jumped in again and said "I think she is right Lee. You can't just take her out now. My suggestion is that we move forward as planned and you take care of her."

"BILL-Y, how am I going to take care of her plus deal with this nut or set of nuts that could be at this parade? Amanda, seriously, you can be a part of the next one." Lee had taken Amanda's arm to guide her to the door.

Just at that moment there was on a knock on the door. Billy yelled out "Come in" and Francine entered the room. She looked at each of their faces and could see that something was going on but couldn't quite tell what. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No more than normal" Lee responded.

Francine shot Lee a look and then said "I have those reports you asked for."

"What reports?" Lee asked.

"I asked her to do some further checking on the prisoners who are connected by losing loved ones because of police officers." Billy answered. Billy picked up the report and began looking it over. "Lee, you will want to look at this."

The report showed that all 65 people who had loved ones that died due to police involvement had been able to prove that the police were directly responsible and had been wrong. None of the police though were ever punished for any of the deaths. Lee began pacing again while running his hand through his hair.

"What is it? What does the report say?" Amanda asked. Billy took the report from Lee and handed it to Amanda.

"Do you see now why you should stay out of this Amanda?" Lee asked angrily. He didn't really mean to be angry at her, he was just worried that she could get hurt.

"No, I see that we need to work even harder to stop the League from freeing these people and using them to further their cause." Amanda answered. "Lee, the recording mentioned that someone on the inside knew that nothing had been done about freeing the prisoners. What exactly goes into freeing a prisoner that they would know?"

Lee stopped pacing and looked at Amanda, shrugged and said "I don't know."

Francine stepped in and said "Well they would have to have paperwork processed and they would need to arrange for each of them to have someone pick them up." Everyone looked at Francine wondering how she would know that. She smiled and said "Well I once knew someone who had been in jail for a little while."

"So we could begin a process of that so that it looks like we are going to release them. In the meantime, don't we need to figure out who that insider is?" Amanda interrupted before Lee could take a crack at that statement.

Billy, Lee and Francine all looked like deer that had been caught in the headlights. They had been so focused on the parade that they hadn't thought about the prison aspect.

Billy smiled and said "Good thinking Mrs. King. I'll call over and give them orders to begin the process without any further delay. In the meantime, Francine, can you get your hands on a copy of all the employees at the Federal Prison? I want Amanda to spend some time looking it over and see if she can determine who might be a suspect there."

"Sure Billy, I'll reach out to an old friend of mine. I'm sure I can get the list within an hour." Francine responded.

"Good. Lee and Amanda, why don't you both go have some lunch and calm down. I think at this point, I need my whole team to figure this out and Amanda has proven to be a worthy member of this team, right Lee?"

Lee sighed and said "Yes." He knew at this point that his argument for her safety was falling on deaf ears. "Amanda, let's go get sandwiches for everyone so we can all keep working."

Everyone agreed that it was a good idea and soon Lee and Amanda had lunch order lists from everyone and headed out. It was going to be a long afternoon.

 **TBC**


	20. Chapter 20 - Research

**Chapter 20 - Research**

When Lee and Amanda got back with everyone's lunches, they found out that Billy had placed the call and they were beginning the process to release the prisoners. Francine handed Amanda the list of the Prison employees which consisted of 6 pages of names. Amanda quickly found an empty desk with a computer and logged in with the code that Billy had assigned her the day before. Lee went to Billy's office and asked if Crypto had had any luck with the tapes that they had received. Billy handed over the report. The only thing that seemed of interest was that there were two other voices on the first tape in the background. One of them appeared to be a female's voice and the other was a male voice but all they could decipher was something about makeup and having red hair. Lee dismissed it and gave Billy back the report. "That doesn't tell us anything. Billy, I just can't figure out how The League found all this out if we didn't even know."

"I know, it worries me. I'm sure it can't be the President's people though. Why don't you take another look at the people involved in the parade? Maybe if you take a look at all of the people who are in charge, you will find a link that will lead us to who would care." Billy suggested.

"Good idea." Lee responded.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in front of computers as the whole team tried to sort out what they knew and find a connection in the middle of any of it. As 5pm neared, Amanda gestured to Lee to come over to her computer. He almost made the mistake of leaning over her but after yesterday, realized that it would be better if he sat beside of her, and kept his chair slightly at a distance; close enough to see the screen but far enough away to give him some distance from Amanda. Amanda had found 5 possible suspects out of the 6 pages of Police Employees. She believed they could be suspects because each of them had also lost family members who were killed by police officers. "That's really stretching it Amanda. Do you really think that is going to be the reason that someone would be a part of the League?" Lee asked.

"Why not? It could explain why they decided to recruit similar people. After all, it is a common bond and could be used to invoke anger so that they could push the League's agenda on an inmate."

"Okay, well let's go tell Billy and see what he thinks." Lee was not altogether convinced that this was a way to find the guilty person. They knocked on Billy's door and then entered. When Billy heard Amanda's thoughts, he began nodding. "She might be onto something Lee. Let's interview these 5 men and see if we can get anything out of them."

"Okay, I'll have Agent Stewart go take care of it." Lee said. "I haven't found anything that leads to something to point who might be involved from the Parade itself. The main groups involved at of course the clowns which we are a part of, the group in charge of the floats, the group in charge of the inflated balloons, all the schools with the marching bands, the Police, the Fire Department, the Shriners and a group that trains Police dogs. None of them seem to have any ties to the League nor have any reason to dislike police officers. There are all plenty of walkers but we have no way to get lists of those people nor would we have time to check them all anyway."

Francine knocked on Billy's door and Billy told her to come in.

"Crypto just got done with analyzing that second cassette tape. It isn't good news. They were able to take the voice from the first one and the voice from the second one and compare it to known terrorists in the League."

"And?" Billy and Lee said at the same time as Francine paused.

"And" Francine continued. "The voice matches up to the voice on file of Eduardo Hernandez. Further research shows that he is actually the head of the League and has been trying to join the Guerilla forces in El Salvador otherwise known as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front."

"Oh Dear God" Lee said. "If he gets his hands on those weapons and all that money, the war in El Salvador will be won by the rebels and that country will come under Cuban rule. We have to stop this."

"Well we are running out of time. This is Wednesday and we have to have some answers by Friday when he is demanding that the prisoners be let go. What do you suggest?" Billy asked.

"Sir, did we get anywhere with figuring out who might be the informant inside the jail?"

Billy looked at Francine and asked if there was any word. She said "Not yet, but let me make some calls and push them along." Francine left Billy's office to see what she could find out.

"Sir, do you think that it would do any good to go talk to any of the parade organizers?"

Lee jumped and said "What good would that do?"

"Well the organizers are the ones who set up each of the groups to be in the parade. If we could talk to the actual people involved, they might have noticed something that didn't seem right. I don't know, it just seems that we should be out doing something." Amanda said.

"Amanda, we are out doing something but wasting time talking to people isn't going to help anything." Lee said.

"Lee, she's just trying to help. Amanda, do you want to go talk to the organizers? I know you are used to setting up charity things so I'm sure you could go out and talk to the groups. Would you feel comfortable doing that?"

"Oh yes Sir. Thank you Sir. Lee can I have the list?"

"Sure, it's on my desk" Lee said with a heavy sigh.

After Amanda left, Lee said to Billy "You know this won't be straight forward. Amanda will get herself into trouble."

"And I expect that you will keep an eye on her in case she does" Billy responded.

"Yeah, that was what I thought." Lee got up and yelled to Amanda "Wait up. I'll come with you."

Billy winked at Amanda as she waited by the door for Lee. He loved when he got his own way without even trying. Billy chuckled as he turned back to his desk and the stack of work on it.

 **TBC**


	21. Chapter 21 - Defeated

**Chapter 21 - Defeated**

"Lee, you didn't have to come with me. I'm perfectly capable of going to talk to organizers on my own" Amanda said as they both got into the elevator.

"Oh I know you are." Lee said "I just figured if we both went, we could get it done faster."

"Okay. Thanks Lee." Amanda said. She felt a little better that Billy hadn't sent him to babysit her. They were soon out in the parking lot and Lee helped her into the car and they were on their way.

"So where are we going? Lee asked.

"According to my information, Denise Heldon is in charge of the entire event so I want to talk to her and see if she can tell us anything." Amanda answered. Amanda told Lee where they needed to go to find Denise and soon they arrived outside her office. As they entered, they found a beautiful blonde haired young girl sitting in the front office. Lee took charge and walked over to her and said "Hi."

The nameplate on her desk said "Traci P." and Amanda had to conceal a smile when Traci didn't even look at Lee but said "The Parade is all booked. There are no exceptions. Please leave your name for next year." She then indicated to a piece of paper on the corner of her desk where they were keeping a list for the following year.

Lee put on the charm more and said "I don't want to be on the parade list but what does it take to get onto your list?" Amanda found herself rolling her eyes. She couldn't believe that he actually got dates this way. She soon found herself laughing out loud when Traci said "You are not qualified to be on that list. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Amanda butted in at that time and said "Hi, I'm Amanda and I called about meeting Denise."

"Oh yes, hi Amanda" Traci got up and shook Amanda's hand. "Is he with you?" She asked.

"Yes, this is my co-worker Lee Stetson."

Lee held out his hand to shake Traci's and she pretended it wasn't there. Traci kept her attention on Amanda and said "Take a seat and I'll let Denise know that you are here Amanda."

A few minutes later a middle aged brunette came out and introduced herself as Denise and invited them to come with her to her office. As they entered a beautifully decorated office, Denise motioned for them to sit down in the seats facing the desk. Amanda introduced Lee as a co-worker and then asked whether she had thought of anything else.

"So as I said on the phone Amanda, I don't know what else I can tell you. The parade is booked out a year in advance and I'm not sure there were any additions this year." Denise started.

Lee jumped in and asked "Did anyone ask to be a part of the parade in the past few weeks that hadn't already signed up?"

"No, there really have been no changes." Denise answered.

Amanda was deep in thought and suddenly said "Has anyone called you recently who is signed up?"

"No, I don't think so. Oh wait, actually I did get a phone call a week or so ago. It was that nice clown over at Korny Klowns."

"What was the call about?" Lee asked.

"Oh nothing really. He just was wondering if the parade would be the same length as last year and if there were any route changes He also requested that they be placed near the back of the parade." Denise answered.

"Why would he ask that?" Lee asked.

"Well the clowns all walk the entire parade and are there to entertain the crowds so sometimes they tend to lag behind the rest of the parade so he didn't want to tie things up too much and thought it best if they were near the tail end."

"Okay, that makes sense" Lee said. "Well I guess we have taken up enough of your time. Thanks for your information. If you think of anything else, please call me." He handed her a card with the agency number on it. Amanda still seemed to be deep in thought so he had to gently nudge her and tell her that they needed to go. She got up and shook Denise's hand and thanked her for her help and then they both left.

As they got back into the car, Lee noticed that Amanda still didn't seem to be with him. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"HUH? Oh, sorry. I just keep thinking we are missing something." Amanda answered. Lee did a U-turn in the middle of the road and headed back toward the agency. As they neared the main park in town, Lee noticed that there was a lot of smoke. "Looks like we have trouble" he said as he gestured toward the park. He quickly pulled the Porsche into a parking spot and they hurried to see what was going on. In the middle of the park, there was a group of what appeared to be bodies placed in a circle on the ground. Each wore a white shirt with the words "Release them" written in black marker on them. In the middle of the circle was a huge bonfire that had been built in such a way that it was slowly inching onto the bodies. Lee realized that the bodies were actually just mannequins dressed up to look real. He looked at Amanda to make sure she realized they weren't real and found her wide beautiful brown eyes looking at him with fear in them. He took her hand in his and said gently "Look at them Amanda. They aren't real. It is okay." Amanda looked back at the dummies and realized that they were in fact dummies so she looked back at Lee, blinked her eyes to get rid of the tears and then nodded her head. The fire trucks arrived and put out the fire and the crowd was dispersed. Lee showed them his badge and asked them to contact the agency and have them send someone out to gather evidence. Lee checked with the crowd that was still there but no one admitted to seeing anything. He gave the Fire Chief his card and told him to call if they found out anything.

Lee then led Amanda back to his car and they continued on their way to the agency.

"You okay Amanda?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. It just took me by surprise. I thought they were dead and on fire and I wondered what kind of person would do that." Amanda replied.

"I'm afraid these are terrorists so they aren't nice people anyway. I get the feeling that we aren't doing things fast enough for them so that was our warning." Lee responded.

They got back to the agency and hurried inside. Billy ushered them into his office as soon as he saw them. He had them sit down and then he pushed the play button on the tape player.

"By now you saw our little campfire that we created. This time we used make believe parade goers but next time, it might be the real thing. Release the prisoners. Your time is running out. We expect all 250 prisoners to be set free on Friday and that means you are already down to less than 48 hours to accomplish that. We don't really want to hurt anyone but you are leaving us with no choice. This is just a friendly reminder of the kind of damage we can and will do if our demands are not met. We do know that you have begun the process of releasing the prisoners but we sense this is just a stall tactic. Convince us that it is real or else many innocent women and children will die. This is your final warning."

Lee was rubbing his hand through his hair. "Did they find out anything when they questioned those police officers that Amanda picked out as possible suspects?"

Billy handed Lee the report. Four of the men had been questioned and didn't seem to know anything about any of this. The 5th man had been out sick yesterday so he was not questioned. Lee shook his head at Amanda to let her know that no information had been discovered.

"It looks like the 5th man is out for a couple of days with a cold but he's scheduled to be in the parade so we are intending to send an agent over to visit with him tomorrow." Billy continued. "Otherwise, that might be a dead end since we don't have time to question the whole department."

Amanda was lost in thought again and said "I was sure that connection would be the answer. Why else would all these men join the League? Some of them are due to be released this year so why throw away their whole lives unless there was a good reason."

Lee said quietly "I know Amanda. It is frustrating when we think we have the answers and then it turns out we are off on a wild goose chase. It is part of the joys of being a spy so you might as well get used to it. It's getting late and we are all tired so I think we need to call it a day and start fresh bright and early in the morning."

Billy nodded his head and seconded the idea. He watched Amanda as she walked out with Lee. She looked so defeated. It was a part of the job that could get you down for sure but he knew she would get some sleep and put her nose back on the trail. He had confidence in her.

 **TBC**


	22. Chapter 22 - The Bad Guys

**Chapter 22 - The Bad Guys**

"Boss, they just showed up. In fact they are showing up in way too many places. I sure didn't expect to see them at the park today. Thankfully they were so busy looking over the scene that they didn't look up and notice me."

"True, it would have been awkward to explain what you were doing there and you certainly stand out in the crowd so they would have recognized you. Are you sure they will be kept busy during the parade?"

"Yes, I have made sure that they will have their hands full. It will be hard for them to keep an eye on everything around them."

"I heard that our friend the cop chickened out and stayed home sick today. It is a good thing since he got out of being questioned today. Do we trust him to stay quiet if they find him to question him tomorrow though?"

"Awww, Boss, He's solid. He's been a part of this group for several months now and look at all the hard work he did to recruit those men in jail that had family and friends die from those cop killing pigs. He's on our side. He just needed some time to regroup. I'll send my wife over with some soup to cheer him up and check him out. She can always take care of things if she feels he is about to turn tail and run."

"That's a good idea; a very good idea." The Bossman said.

"Boss, it doesn't look like they are going to release those prisoners on Friday. What are we going to do if they don't?"

"We are going to make sure the parade on Saturday is one that no one will ever forget." The Boss said with an evil smile.

 **TBC**


	23. Chapter 23 - Missing Pieces

**Chapter 23 - Missing Pieces**

Amanda headed home and found herself still in deep thought about this whole puzzle. She was sure that most of the pieces would fit together if she could only arrange them correctly. It frustrated her that she couldn't seem to do that. As she walked through the door of her beautiful but simple home, her boys came running down to greet her. They both gave her hugs which made her smile for the first time all day. Jamie was excited because he had gotten an A on his spelling test and Phillip couldn't wait to tell his Mother about how Tommy had laughed so hard that milk had come out of his nose at lunchtime. They all walked into the kitchen together and found Dotty was taking a roast chicken out of the oven. The boys quickly helped set the table and they all sat down to enjoy a meal together.

"Well Amanda, that new pet sitting service of yours seems to be keeping you very busy" Dotty said.

"Yes it is Mother."

"Dear, you look sad tonight. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, it's fine Mother. One of my client's dogs was a little sick today so I'm just worried that he is okay."

"Did you take it to the Vets?" Dotty asked?

"No, but I'm sure his owner will take him if he isn't better by morning. Well boys, let's check that homework" Amanda quickly changed the subject. The boys happily pulled out their homework for their mother and they all sat on the sofa as she checked it over. As Dotty began to prepare to do the dishes Amanda said "Mother, I'll do the dishes in just a little while. I just wanted to spend some time with my boys."

"Okay dear, if you don't mind. I am really beat and have to be up early to take ole Man Witherspoon to his Doctor's appointment in the morning. If you recall, we all take turns with his appointments and it is my turn tomorrow. I'm going to head on up to bed. Is Dean coming to dinner any night this week?" Dotty asked.

"No, remember he is out of town until just before Thanksgiving. He'll be here to watch football with the boys and have Thanksgiving with us." Amanda answered.

"Oh, Okay. Well Goodnight then." Dotty said as she began to climb the stairs to her bedroom.

"Goodnight Mother" Said Amanda

"Goodnight Grandmother" said Jamie and Phillip all at the same time.

Amanda was proud of how well her boys were doing in school. The extra help she had given Jamie with his fractions was really paying off. The homework was all checked and secured in their bags and they sat and watched a popular dinosaur tv show before she sent the boys up to bed. She shut off the tv and headed to the kitchen to do the dishes and clean up from dinner. As she stood there washing the dishes, her mind returned again to all the clues on this case. She just couldn't figure out the missing piece. Just as she was wiping down the countertops, she heard a knock on her kitchen window and she couldn't help but smile. She looked to see who was there even though she already knew. It was comforting to know that he checked in with her so much. As she headed to the door, she wondered if he had figured out the missing piece.

TBC


	24. Chapter 24 - The Fox and the Henhouse

**Chapter 24 - The Fox and the Hen House**

After Lee had walked Amanda to her car, he had gone back inside to check over the documents so more. He had to admit that Amanda's ideas had made sense and it was frustrating that they couldn't seem to connect the dots together to make them work. What were they missing? Billy's office lights went out and Billy came out of his office. He saw Lee at his desk and walked over to him. "I thought you were going home?"

"I was but Amanda is just so determined that she was right that I was trying to figure out what we are missing. Hell I don't know Billy. Something isn't adding up. We are missing something and I just can't seem to figure out what it is but as much as I hate to admit it, Amanda's ideas do make sense."

"Well walk with me and join me for a steak dinner at Randy's." Billy suggested.

When they got to Randy's, they picked a booth in the back so they could talk without being overheard. The two men sat down and smiled when the waitress came over to take their order. Billy was a little surprised that Scarecrow didn't make a move on her but he knew that this case was really bothering him.

After they were alone again, Billy said "Okay, so let's list what we do know or at least what we think we know."

"Okay," Lee agreed. "We know that there is a convoy of weapons and money moving into Silver Springs sometime between Friday and Saturday and the convoy will be used to move the floats during the parade. We know that Eduardo Hernandez seems to be trying to take control of that convoy so that he can fund the Guerilla forces in El Salvador and have the Mountebank League be able to join up with the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. We know that there appears to be someone inside the Federal Prison that is connected to this League and is an inside source. We are also fairly certain that someone within the parade is connected to the League and is providing inside information. The problem is that we are no closer to figuring out who that is. We also know that the common denominator among most of these people seems to be that they share losing a family member to a police officer who then was found innocent of any wrong doing even though they were likely guilty."

The waitress brought their orders out and the men began eating while thinking.

Billy finally spoke as he wiped his mouth with his napkin after eating his last piece of steak "I think Amanda still is on to something. I just wish we had more time to check more people. There has to be someone we are missing. In the meantime, I'm going to send Agent Stewart out to that Officer Rogers house who is home sick and see if he can find out anything. This guy is the last one that fits the profile at the police station. Go Home and get some sleep. You look like hell."

Billy threw down some money to pay for both meals and stood up. He put both hands on Lee's shoulders and gave him a quick squeeze. "We'll get them. We have to. This one is too important. Night Lee"

"Night Billy" Lee said as Billy walked out the door. Lee sat there for a few more minutes and soon the waitress walked up and asked him if he wanted anything else. She slipped her hand down his chest and purred that she would be off work in an hour. Lee was so deep in thought that he hadn't even noticed the move and just robotically said that he needed to get home. The Waitress's face went to a pout look for a second and then she stomped off to the kitchen. Lee got up and headed out the door, totally oblivious to the Waitress's actions. As he got into his car, he knew where he had to go. It didn't take long to drive across town to Amanda's house. As he pulled up to the curb, he could see that the family seemed to be all upstairs except for Amanda. He quietly made his way to her back door and knocked on the kitchen window. Amanda came outside, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"Hey" Lee said.

"Hey yourself" Amanda said with a smile. "What are you doing over here?"

"I just wanted to make sure you got home okay. I know how frustrated you looked earlier."

"I am frustrated but I'm okay. It seems like we are so close to the answers but just so far away."

"I know." Lee said quietly as he folded his arms against his chest and leaned against Amanda's window. "Agent Stewart is going to go question that officer that is out sick. Maybe he will shed some light on this."

"That's good. Lee, if you were a fox and you wanted to get into the henhouse, how would you do it?"

Lee looked at Amanda with a puzzled look. "I don't know, I guess I would try to dig a hole and get inside that way."

"What if the door was wide open?"

"Amanda, what are you trying to say?"

"I just can't help but think that somehow this convoy is the chicken and it is being handed right to the fox."

"That makes no sense though. How would that be possible?"

"I don't know. It is just a feeling."

"Well we can't arrest anyone on feelings."

"I know that!"

"You know, I was thinking, maybe you are too close to this." Before Amanda could interrupt him, Lee put up a hand to stop her "Hear me out. I think that I pulled you too far into this one. You are a civilian after all and you are supposed to just help with the filing and typing and such. Amanda, you have helped come up with some good ideas for this case but I think it is time for you to step back a little. Why don't you take tomorrow off and relax. You haven't had any time to relax since you got started in this crazy business. Now I can see you already getting wound up to protest but really, I do appreciate all the help you have given us but I think you are getting too involved. Look, there really isn't much going on tomorrow. I'm going to spend some time talking to TP and maybe some other contacts so there really isn't anything for you to do anyway. I know you Amanda King, you are going to drive yourself insane trying to figure this thing out. Well maybe something will come to you while you are relaxing just like it did that time with Mrs. Welch. If you do, please call me. Don't do anything rash and on your own, okay?"

Amanda let out a big sigh "Are you sure there isn't anything I can help with tomorrow?"

"Positive."

"Okay, well I have been promising Mother to take her to the new tea room downtown so maybe I'll do that tomorrow."

"There you go! Have fun and I'll see you at the agency on Friday then."

"Okay. Call me if you need me though." Amanda said

"Oh I will." Lee answered as they said their good nights and Lee headed back to his car. He felt some relief that he hadn't had to argue too much with her to get her to step back for at least a day. As he drove home, he couldn't help but think about her hen house analogy though. Maybe she was onto something once again. He sighed deeply. He definitely needed to go talk to TP. Maybe he could shed some light on all of this.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25 - Agent Stewart

**Chapter 25 - Agent Stewart**

Agent Stewart had arrived at the agency that morning and was summoned into Billy's office. Billy asked him to go meet up with Officer Rogers at this house to see if he could shed light on who might be the informant within the Federal Prison. Agent Stewart had been with the agency for just over 5 years. He was still working his way to being considered of value at the agency as it took a while sometimes to get the right case so you would be acknowledged by the higher ups when you closed out a case. He had a lot of respect for Scarecrow because he had gotten to that level pretty quickly. Life was different for Scarecrow though since he was a single, reckless kind of guy. He had gone out a few times with Lee to have drinks after a tough case and found him to be a lot of fun but also daring. Agent Stewart had a beautiful wife at home along with a 3 year old baby girl. He always tried to air on the side of caution when handling a case.

As he headed to the Officer's house, he didn't really feel anything bad could happen. This was a police officer and much like the agency guys, they had an oath and a pledge and believed in doing the right thing. He felt this was more of a formality than anything else. If it was really serious, Scarecrow would be doing it after all. When he arrived at the correct address, he noticed right away that there was a blue Ford truck parked in the driveway. He went up to the house door and knocked on it. There was no answer so he knocked a little louder. He could hear some shuffling going on inside so he decided to let the Officer know who he was. "Officer Rogers? This is Agent Steward from the Agency. I need to ask you a few questions please."

A few seconds passed by and still no one came to the door. Agent Stewart was becoming impatient now so he knocked louder and said "Look, I know you are in there. I don't care if you are sick or not, I'm not here to check up on you. I just need to ask a few questions."

He heard movement near the door and then suddenly the door was wide open. He looked inside but didn't see any humans standing there. Now he was becoming a little nervous but before he could pull his gun out of his belt, he noticed the assault rifle that was pointed at his face. He put his hands up and walked inside. The door was closed behind him and suddenly his whole world went dark.

TBC


	26. Chapter 26 - TP

**Chapter 26 - TP**

Lee had made up his mind to go talk to TP in hopes of finding out some information. The question was where to find him. After a quick check at the Library of Congress, Lee decided to go on a hunch and head for the park. Sure enough, TP was sitting on a bench in the middle of the park with pigeons all around him as he fed them from a bag. As he saw Lee approaching him, TP broke out into a smile and said "Lee my boy, what brings you out this way?"

As the pigeons checked Lee out to see if he had brought them anything, Lee said "I was looking for you."

"Well it looks like you found me. Where is that pretty partner of yours? I was hoping to meet her."

"TP, I told you that she wasn't my partner. She just helps out now and then."

"Well my sources say that you are partnering up with her for the big Thanksgiving Parade so technically Lee my boy, she is your partner."

"That's different TP. Wait, how do you know about the parade?"

"Don't you know that I can find out almost anything Lee?"

"Yeah, well that's why I'm here. You must have heard about this convoy that is being moved through?"

"Oh Yeah, pretty explosive stuff. I heard that the League is hell bent on getting their hands on it."

"Do you know how they intend to do it? Who's their source?" Lee asked.

TP looked solemn as he said "They intend to use every opportunity they can get to take over that convoy Lee. They have nothing to lose because they need the funding in order for the Guerilla group to join forces with them and without that group, they feel that their members are starting to drift away to other causes. They intend to make sure they don't walk away Saturday without it. As for the source, there are apparently a couple. I haven't heard of names but there is definitely a leak in the Federal Prison. The more important source seems to be a part of the parade."

"We just can't seem to figure out who that is. There are too many people to check and not enough time. Can you tell me anything about that source TP?"

"Not Really. I would have come to you sooner if I knew. I just know that it has to be someone that no one would suspect because it seems to be a well-hidden secret. I will tell you Lee that this one could get sticky."

"I know TP. I know. That's why I tried to convince Amanda to back out of this one but she won't listen to me."

TP smiled at Lee's irritation. "Well at this time, maybe you need to focus on how they intend to take over the convoy and forget about this source."

"Any ideas on that one?"

"My guess is that they will try for a hostage situation so that they can force the authorities and the agency to let them not only take the convoy but move it out of the area. It is a shame that they won't cancel the parade. There are way too many possibilities."

Lee rubbed his hand through his hair and said "Yeah, tell me about it. I feel really helpless on this one. I just hope we can keep everyone safe."

"It sounds like this is one parade that might be pretty memorable but not in a good way. I'll let you know if I hear anything from my sources. Maybe someone will come up with information before the parade."

"Thanks TP" Lee said.

"Tell your lovely partner that I said 'hi'" TP said with a smile.

"I'll be sure to do that" Lee said knowing full well he wouldn't. In the end, TP hadn't been able to help much. This whole thing was just out of control and Lee didn't know how to stop it. At this rate, there were a lot of people who weren't going to be having a very good Thanksgiving.

 **TBC**


	27. Chapter 27 - Missing Puzzle Piece

**Chapter 27 - Missing Puzzle Piece**

Amanda and her Mother had enjoyed the Tea Room a lot and had a nice afternoon together but Amanda was itching to get back onto this case. She headed to the office as soon as the boys were on their way to school. As she entered the Bullpen, she could feel the tension that was in the air. She quickly went to Billy's office and knocked. Lee opened the door and let her in. She immediately saw the grave looks at each of their faces. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"The President decided not to release any of the prisoners so we are worried about the retaliation" Billy answered.

"Your friend TP couldn't tell you anything?" Amanda asked.

"Oh he told me plenty, just nothing that I can use to bring anyone in for questioning."

There was a knock on the door and Billy yelled "Come in" and Francine came through the door. She looked at Amanda with a sour gaze as she realized that once again she wasn't being included and Amanda was. "What is it Francine?" Billy asked.

Francine glanced again at Amanda as this was not information that a civilian should be hearing but Billy motioned her on so she said "It's not good news Billy. A man just went to throw trash in his dumpster this morning and heard a groan. He lowered himself into the dumpster and found Agent Stewart at the bottom of it barely alive. He's in surgery right now trying to save him."

Lee got out of his chair and started pacing. "He went over to talk to Officer Rogers who was our last possible suspect for an inside informant. Why didn't I suggest going along with him?"

Billy yelled at Lee to sit down. "There is no need to blame yourself. None of us thought anyone would do anything in broad daylight. He's a good agent, he knew to take precautions.

"I know Billy but damn it I should have been there, someone should have gone as backup."

"So does that mean that Officer Rogers is the inside guy?" Amanda asked.

Lee stopped pacing and said "It sure seems like it Amanda."

"We already sent two agents over to collect him but he has left the area. We have an APB out for his arrest. Hopefully they will catch him soon." Francine explained.

"Meanwhile, how long before The League realizes that none of the prisoners are being released?" Lee pondered.

"Well they only gave us until Noon so that gives us just 3 hours before they find out for sure." Billy said. "Amanda what else did you find in the records when you checked out Officer Rogers?"

"Not much sir, his full name is Carl Peter Rogers and he appears to be single with no real family left. It was his brother that was killed by an officer when he was only 15 years old. He had stolen a motorcycle and was clocked going over 100 mph so the police gave chase and he wouldn't stop. Then amazingly enough, the bike ran out of gas and he found himself stranded on a dirt country road. The Police moved in to arrest him but a new recruit got antsy with his gun and claimed that he had seen a weapon so he fired and shot him in the heart. He was pretty much dead before he hit the ground." Amanda explained.

"How old was Rogers at that time?" Lee asked.

"He was only 8 years old. His original documents said that he joined the force to make sure that things like that didn't happen to others. I guess in the end, the anger he felt about that day probably encouraged him to join the League." Amanda concluded.

"So if he doesn't have any family, where do you think he is hiding?" Billy wondered.

"I think I will go down and talk to some of the other officers and see if any of them know anything about his private life." Lee decided.

"I'll go with you" Amanda said.

"No, you will not." Lee stated.

"But Lee, I might get the guys to open up to me. It might make it easier to talk to a woman." Amanda defended her decision.

"Really Amanda? I've been doing this job a long time. People don't open up more to a woman." Lee scolded her.

"Take her along Lee. There isn't any reason why she can't help out with the questioning."

Lee sighed. "Okay, let's go then."

They made the trip to the Federal Prison and walked up to the guard at the front desk and Lee showed him his badge. The desk Sargent had them sign in and then take a seat. A short time later Officer Lamont came to escort them inside. As they walked along through the prison environment, many of the men began whistling at Amanda and some asked her if she would stay and keep them company. Amanda's face blushed more and more at some of the comments they were making. When they reached a secured room and were shown inside a set of offices, Officer Lamont apologized for the treatment she had received. "The men don't get to see many women brave enough to come through so they act like pigs when they do. I'm truly sorry you had to deal with that." He said.

"It's okay, it isn't your fault." Amanda said.

"So now that we have some privacy, what can I do for you folks?"

"Have you heard about Officer Rogers yet?" Lee asked.

"Yes, it seems we had a bad apple among us. Such a shame cause he was a nice guy. He seemed to be always alone and didn't really want company but he never gave anyone a reason not to like him or to think he wasn't one of us." The Correctional Officers all try to go out for drinks a few times a month just so we can get to know each other better and form a bond but he always said no. At first we tried to convince him to come along but he always had an excused."

"Did he seem to have any friends on the outside at all?"

"Well there was the guy that he talked to on the phone now and then on his lunch break."

"Any idea who that was?"

"Let me think. I never met the guy. I know someone who might know, hang on a minute." Officer Lamont picked up his phone and called someone and asked the question. He thanked them for their answer and hung up. "He just reminded me who it was. I knew that we had been told and it was something humorous but couldn't remember what that was."

"Sir, what was humorous?" Amanda asked as she tried to follow along.

"Oh, well Officer Rogers had decided on his time off that he wanted to be a clown so he had recently joined a clown group. He said he wanted to make children laugh and to keep them off the streets."

"Any idea what group he joined?" Lee asked already knowing the answer.

"I think it was called Krafty Klowns or something like that." Officer Lamont answered.

Amanda inhaled deeply and asked "Do you mean Korny Klowns?"

"YES, that was it."

Amanda and Lee exchanged looks right away. They just realized they found the missing puzzle piece.

 **TBC**


	28. Chapter 28- Completing the Puzzle

**Chapter 28 – Fitting the Piece Into the Puzzle**

Lee and Amanda rushed back to the agency to let Billy know what they had just found out.

"Damnit, so the whole time it was right in front of our faces. The problem is whether it is the whole organization or just someone within it." Billy said.

"Sir, I tend to think that it is just 1 or 2 people inside." Amanda suggested.

"What makes you think that?" Lee asked.

"Well I have seen this group in this parade for years and they have never caused trouble in the past. Plus they are a humanitarian group so it would be strange for them to be involved with anyone like this League." Amanda explained.

"Stranger things have happened though." Lee responded.

"True but my instincts are telling me not this time." Amanda was determined.

"Amanda, you can't just go instincts." Lee scolded. They then began glaring at each other until Billy said "ENOUGH!"

"Now, I think it wouldn't hurt for the two of you to go back to the Clown camp and see if you can find out anything, right?"

Lee let out a sigh and said "You are right. Let's go Amanda."

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

"Oh My God, they are so stupid! How can they be this stupid?"

"I'm sorry Boss. We had thought they might be just playing with us and not really intending to release the prisoners, right?" the man said.

"Shut up. No one asked you. And has anyone heard from Rogers? That big coward taking off when we need him. He should have just put that nosy agent under lock and key. Why did he decide to take things in his own hands instead of calling me? I have half a mind to just take him out. This whole operation is falling apart and we need to get it back together, **NOW!"**

 **"** I'm sorry Boss. What do you want me to do?"

"Well your wife is still going to be able to drive one of the convoy trucks right?"

"Definitely sir, do we know how many drivers we need yet?"

"There are 5 trucks. We can't take the chance of your identity being revealed until after we have the convoy safely on its way to our contact so we will need to use your wife along with Gus, Hank, Steve and I'll drive the other one. We have to make this work. There won't be any second chances."

"Yes Boss, it will be okay. You'll see."

"It better be! Now go back to playing a clown before anyone notices you are gone."

"Yes Boss. No one suspects a thing. I'll make sure those two agents are taken care of too."

"See that you do!"

SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK SMK

On the ride back to the camp, Amanda and Lee agreed that they felt they could trust Jared since they had previously checked his background and felt that he would not be involved. Lee and Amanda arrived at the clown camp and went inside. Since no one was expecting them, they were able to quietly just slip inside and they headed towards Jared's Office. They found Jared at his desk and asked if he had time to talk to them. He ushered them inside and they closed the door.

Jared looked them both over and could tell something was up. "Somehow I don't think this is just a social call." Jared said.

"Jared, how long have you been with the Korny Klowns?" Lee asked.

"Nearly 20 years." Jared answered. "Why do you ask?"

"We think there might be someone here that isn't who he or she seems." Lee ventured.

"What does that mean? Do you think we have someone involved in whatever trouble you are expecting during this parade?"

"Sadly I do" Lee responded and then filled Jared in about the Convoy of weapons and money, the League and everything else they had found out. He then told him that they had determined that there was someone involved with the parade who seemed to have ties with the League and that made that person very dangerous.

"What makes you think that it is one of my clowns though?" Jared asked still not believing that any of his friends would do something this horrible.

"Sir, do you know someone by the name of Rogers who worked in the Prison as his full time job but we believe came here to train?" Amanda asked.

"Are you talking about Carl Rogers? I haven't seen him for a week or so. He's a strange one. No matter what we did, we couldn't get him to lighten up enough to be a clown. He was quite determined though and kept shoving money into our hands whenever we suggested maybe this wasn't for him. He said that it had always been his dream. So we continued to try to train him. Since we are a non-profit and volunteer our services to all kinds of Humanitarian events, we are always looking to raise money so of course we couldn't turn away his donations. Most of the men gave up on him though."

"Who didn't sir? Amanda asked.

"Some of our Senior. They felt bad for him and liked that he was so determined so they worked really hard but he never really showed any improvement."

"Was there anyone in particular though? Lee pressed.

"Hmmm, no not really. We work as a team here so there were usually 2 - 3 men and women working with him at a time. I'm sorry I can't be more help."

"It's okay. Just another dead end" Lee said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Now you wait a minute" Amanda scolded. "It isn't a dead end because we at least can tie him to here. Jared, did Officer Rogers intend to be in the parade?"

"Yes, but not with us. He was going to be driving one of the Antique police cars and represent the Prison System." Jared explained.

"Oh, interesting." Lee said suddenly realizing it wasn't quite a dead end. "Did anyone else know who we were and why we were here?"

"Yes, when the agency first called, the senior staff all were involved in deciding if we were going to help out."

"Who is the Senior Staff Sir?" Asked Amanda.

"Well there's Me and Barney, Kelly, Stanley, Lefty and his Wife, Carol. All of these people are good people and have been here for a long time though. I trust all of them.

Lee remembered something else and asked "Is it customary for the clowns to be at the very end of the parade?"

"Not usually, we usually are somewhere in the middle. Why do you ask?"

"Someone supposedly from Korny Klowns called the Parade organizers and got you reassigned to the back due to worrying about delaying the parade. Does that seem like a legit request?" Lee asked.

"No one really cares if the clowns tie up the parade or not because it gives the balloon handlers time to navigate the tough spots. It also allows breaks in the parade so that it doesn't go too fast. That's strange that anyone would get us reassigned. Did the organizers know who called from here?" Jared asked.

"No, they didn't note who it was, just that it was Korny Klowns." Lee answered. "What is usually at the back of the parade?"

"They usually have the President at the back to lead in the float that has Santa and Mrs. Claus." Jared answered. "It's an annual tradition."

Lee's heart stopped beating for a minute as he stared at Amanda. Amanda couldn't quite decipher what his face was saying to her so she asked him what was wrong. "TP said that I should concentrate more of how they intended to take over the convoy than to worry about the source."

Amanda was missing something and shrugged her shoulders. "Did he know what they intended to do?"

"He wasn't sure Amanda but he said that there was a good chance that they intended to use a kidnapping to obtain it. Amanda, I think they intend to kidnap the President of the United States." Lee exclaimed.

 **TBC**


	29. Chapter 29 - Amanda's Forgotten Family

**Chapter 29 – Amanda's Forgotten Family**

Billy hung up the phone from talking to the President with a grim look on his face. Lee and Amanda had rushed back to the agency to let him know what they had figured out and he had immediately reacted. They watched him as he talked to the President and could tell the conversation was not going well especially when Billy reached into his desk drawer and pulled out the familiar container; opened it and popped several of its contents into his mouth. After he hung up the phone, he sat looking into space for a few minutes until Amanda had to clear her throat. He then found himself focusing on her. Finally he spoke "I have spent many years with this agency and have enjoyed most of my time here. I don't think I have ever felt as helpless as I do right now."

"Sir? He wouldn't agree not to attend the parade would he?" Amanda asked.

"No, he is quite stubborn. He said that he couldn't disappoint all the people who enjoy his presence in this parade and that he is sure that we can protect him. I wish I was as confident as he is about that."

"Aww, come on Billy. We have some really good men and you know it. Why don't we see if he will allow Francine to ride in the car with him? The parade always has people who just walk along so we can dress up some agents to be everyday people and have them walking all around his car and keeping an eye out." Lee suggested.

Billy nodded as he listened. "Will that be enough though? Besides, I'm worried that if we put too many agents on the scene that Eduardo might realize what is going on and fulfil his promise of going someplace else and hurting a lot of people to punish us. We have to be so careful to make this look like we haven't filled this parade full of agents."

"I know, I thought of that too. I agree, we have to be careful." Lee admitted.

"When do you think they intend to try to take him?" Billy asked.

"Well I've been thinking about that and I think they will let the parade nearly complete itself and then jump the President so they can easily move the trucks through the city and escape. The streets will be cleared of traffic still from the parade but it will be easier to move quickly out of the area if they are at the end of the route."

Amanda had been pretty quiet since they came back to the Billy's office. Billy sat down beside her on the couch in his office and took her hand and pulled it into his lap. "Mrs. King" He said gently. "You know I appreciate all you have done for the agency and you certainly have already shown that you have a lot of courage and loyalty but if you want to back out of this and stay safe with your family, you know that I won't think anything less of you."

"Oh My Gosh!" Amanda said as she looked at Billy.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"My Family always goes to this parade. They are going to be there tomorrow. Are they going to be safe Mr. Melrose? How do I convince them that they can't go this year?"

"Amanda, you didn't tell me that." Lee said. "How are you going to explain why you aren't there with them?"

"Oh I intended to tell them that I was too busy with my pet service and that I would have to meet them later on after the parade."

"You don't think they will recognize you?" Billy asked.

"Oh no Sir. They aren't expecting me in this parade so I'm pretty sure they won't recognize me. The clown outfits that Lee and I picked should hide my identity so they don't know it is me." Amanda said. "Sir, I want to continue. We have come this far and well you need my help. Lee doesn't have time to teach someone else our clown routine and I know he will protect me the best he can. Please let me help." She pleaded.

Billy breathed a sigh of relief because he knew that Amanda would keep Lee under control and he was bound to be a little erratic considering how high the stakes were now. Even Lee had no objections.

"Okay you two. Go home and get some sleep. You are going to need it. We are all going to need it." Billy said. They all said their Good nights and then Lee guided Amanda out to the parking lot and made sure she got safely to her car. "Okay Amanda, the parade starts at 10 am so I'll meet you here in the morning at 8am so we can go over together, okay?"

"Sounds okay." Amanda agreed. She then got into her car and headed home. She had to face her mother who she knew was going to be upset that Amanda wouldn't be going to see the parade with them. Some day she hoped she could tell her Mother the truth since she really did hate lying to her. However, this was one time that it was probably better that her Mother didn't know what might be happening around them. All Amanda could do was to pray that her family would be safe and that Lee could save the President before it was too late.

 **TBC**


	30. Chapter 30 - The Night Before

**Chapter 30 - The Night Before**

Amanda arrived home and found her family sitting in the Livingroom enjoying a game of Clue. She smiled watching them try to figure out the mystery. She continued to watch them as she sorted through all the mail and laid the bills aside that she would need to figure out how to pay later. In the end, Jamie figured out that Mr. Green was the guilty one and he had used the knife in the Study. They all congratulated him and then proceeded to clean up the game so that they could finish preparing for dinner. Dotty had prepared spaghetti and meatballs along with her mouthwatering garlic bread and everything smelled wonderful. As they sat eating dinner together, Amanda brought up the parade and the boys all began talking at once because they were so excited to be going.

"Whoa fellas, slow down. I have something that I have to tell everyone." Amanda said.

All eyes turned to Amanda with concern that they couldn't go.

"I'm sorry but you know how I just began this pet and plant service; well unfortunately I'm not going to be able to go to the parade tomorrow because I agreed to spend time walking several dogs while my clients are at the parade."

"BUT MOM, you gotta come!" Jamie pleaded.

"Yeah Mom, Wormbrain might get lost in the crowd if you aren't there to watch him." Phillip stumbled for an excuse to get her to come.

"Phillip don't call your brother names. I'm really sorry boys but we really could use the money and I already promised. Now after the parade, I'll take you to Marvelous Marvin's for a burger. How would you like that?"

"Gee Mom, it won't be the same without you there." Jamie said with sadness in his voice.

"Awww, come on Fellas, you know I would be there if I could. Now your Grandmother will take you and you will have just as much fun with her."

Phillip was quiet but then chimed in "Okay, but can we go to Quickie Chickie afterward instead?"

"I'm sorry but I think they had to close it down Phillip. I think I read something about the owner being arrested."

Dotty had been deep in thought but instantly became alert upon hearing that news. "He was? That nice man James Delano was arrested? Whatever for? Do we need to help him prove his innocence? He's such a nice man."

"I didn't know you knew him Mother. I think he was involved with some illegal activity with guns or something. I don't remember but I'm sure he isn't innocent if he is in jail."

"Oh yes, I knew him. Well I didn't know him well but I knew him. I mean I met him once. You see, James Delano is a relative of Agnes and she introduced me one time when I took the boys for lunch there. He seemed like such an awfully nice young man. In fact, before Dean came along, I had hoped to introduce the two of you. I was sure you would hit it off but I know how fond of Dean you are now so I never bothered." Dotty explained before taking a breath.

"Yes, it wouldn't have been fair to Dean." Amanda said as she rolled her eyes. Dinner was over and Amanda shooed everyone away while she cleaned up and did the dishes. She wondered if Lee would pop in but when he didn't, she realized that she couldn't expect him to come every day. She sat down at the kitchen table and spent some time working on her bills. It didn't take long for the stress of the day to catch up to her though and she decided to go to bed. Tomorrow was going to a very long day and she knew she needed to get some sleep. Now if only she could get her mind to shut down so she could. As she finally drifted off, she wondered if Lee was being able to sleep.

 **TBC**


	31. Chapter 31 - Parade Morning

**Chapter 31 – Parade Morning**

Lee didn't get much sleep since he was up half the night worrying about Saturday. He arrived at 7am at the agency which was very unusual for him but he couldn't take staring at the walls of his apartment any longer. He turned on his computer and did a little research on the route of the parade to see if he could figure out where they might make their move. The parade was to begin at the corners of Ellsworth Drive and Veterans Place. It then proceeds South to Georgia Avenue and continues south down Georgia Avenue, ending at Silver Spring Avenue. There didn't appear to be anything around that would allow them to grab the President and give them plenty of cover. There was a train station not too far from the parade route though. Lee wondered if they intended to use that in some way but he couldn't figure out how that would benefit them as the agency could easily get the train stopped. There didn't seem to be any vantage points for grabbing him so it could happen at anytime during the parade. Lee looked at his watch and realized that it was almost 8am so he shut the computer off and headed out to meet Amanda. He grabbed a box that had been left for him on the way out.

Amanda was just pulling into the parking lot as Lee walked outside. She smiled when she saw him. "You beat me. You are never earlier than me" She said.

Lee ran a hand through his hair and said "Well I didn't sleep very well. How did things go with your Mother?"

"Oh, okay. They were all a little disappointed that I wouldn't be there but they will be okay."

"That's good. Okay, let's get over to Ellsworth Street where they are meeting."

They decided to take Amanda's car since there would be so many chances for the Porsche to get scratched or damaged in the crowd but Lee offered to drive. As they pulled into a warehouse parking lot that had been offered to the parade walkers, Lee couldn't help but notice all the chaos around him. There were people dressed as Gingerbread men, elves, Pilgrims and Indians along with a lot of marching bands and dance groups. Each of the bands were practicing at once and since none of them were playing the same song, Lee wanted to scream to them to shut up but he knew that wouldn't go over well. The balloons were in the process of being inflated and most were already way up in the air. As they headed to the area where the clowns were putting on their make up, Lee noticed that there were well over 30 floats hooked up to trucks. How was he supposed to know which ones were the ones carrying the weapons and money? He hoped Billy could find out for him. He guided Amanda to the clown tent and they quickly began putting on their outfits that they had picked out to wear in the parade. All the clowns were practicing their routines for the parade. Some were going to juggle, two of them were on stilts, two of them would be making balloon animals along the way and passing them out to the crowd while the remaining few had practical jokes to play on the audience like Lee and Amanda. Lee couldn't help but study each clown and try to figure out who might be the one involved with the League but he couldn't see any indication of a guilty one. After Lee and Amanda were dressed, they then had help from Kelly with putting on their makeup. Kelly asked the other clowns for their opinion when she finished and everyone agreed that it was a top notch job. Lee still couldn't believe that he had agreed to dress up as a clown but if it saved the President, then that was all that mattered. "Amanda, I need to get something in my car. Can you walk with me?" Lee asked.

"Sure" Amanda said not sure what he needed.

When they reached the car, Lee pulled out the box that he had grabbed at the agency. Inside were two huge flowers. He pinned one onto his cowboy vest and the other one he pinned onto Amanda's puffy shirt. Amanda watched him as he did it without saying a word.

"Now these aren't just flowers, these are actually microphones. Also we have an ear piece so you can hear." Lee explained as he took the ear pieces out of the box and showed her how to fit one into her ear. "So during the parade, we can be in touch at all times and hear each other but also we can be in touch with Billy and Francine."

"How does it work?" Amanda asked.

"Look, I'll show you." He pushed a button onto each of their flowers and then motioned for her to step back a little. After she was where she couldn't easily hear her, he whispered without leaning toward the flower "You look funny with a red nose."

Amanda smiled and whispered back "Well you look funny with that red wig."

"Really? I was thinking about having my hair dyed to this color." Lee teased.

"Well maybe since you like blondes, I should dye mine to this color" Amanda said with a mischievous grin.

Lee busted out laughing and then walked back to where Amanda was standing.

"So remember, everyone who has access to our mics can hear what we are saying so if you get into any trouble, make sure you tell us." Lee warned.

"Billy, are you listening?" Lee asked.

"Right here Scarecrow." Billy answered. "We have some good news. The President agreed to let Francine ride in the car with him."

"That is great news!" Lee said with some relief. "Meanwhile, there are about 30 trucks here to pull floats. Do we know which ones are parts of the convoy?"

"We are still working on getting that information Lee. I asked for it 2 days ago. Let me put a bug into someone's ear about it." Billy said.

Lee led Amanda back to the clown tent and they began looking for Lefty who would have their balloon prop. There was no sign of him at first but then Lee noticed that he was talking to some of people dressed up as elves. He seemed to be entertaining them as several times there were moments when each of them would break out into laughter. Suddenly Lefty looked back toward the clown tent and noticed Lee staring at him. He offered a friendly wave and said something more to the people in front of him and then made his way back to the tent. As he reached Lee and Amanda, he offered his good hand for a handshake but both refused to take him up on it. He smiled and showed them that his hand was free of any gadgets and they all laughed. "I'll bet you are waiting for your balloon prop." Lefty said. "And you my dear are ready for your basket of candy, right?"

"Yes sir" Amanda answered. "We didn't mean to take you away from your friends though."

"Oh, they aren't friends of mine. I was just entertaining them while we all waited." Lefty explained. He quickly fit the balloon prop onto Lee's arm and then pointed Amanda to a box under the tent. Inside she found a good sized basket full of hard candies to pass out. Lee then guided Amanda away from the clowns pretending that he wanted some practice time with her. Once they were out of earshot, Lee said "Billy, are you there?"

"Go Ahead Scarecrow."

"Any word on the trucks?"

"No, we just know that they all have white cabs."

"BILL-Y, almost all of them have white cabs. Is there any kind of logo or business name on them?"

"We still haven't heard yet. Oh and Lee, the President's car just pulled into the parking lot."

Lee and Amanda looked over and saw the Presidential car sitting in the parking lot. Lee knew that Francine was being able to hear anything that was being said but couldn't respond without letting the people in the car know she wasn't just a friend. Lee still wasn't convinced that he could trust all the guys watching in the President so they had posed Francine as a friend of the family.

Meanwhile the clowns had disassembled the tent since the parade was beginning to line up. Lee and Amanda followed the other clowns to their spot near the back. Lee noticed several agents among the parade walkers and was relieved that they had some added security. Hopefully it wasn't too much to scare the League away. He just wished that they had been able to determine which trucks to keep an eye on. Trying to watch all 30 trucks was not going to be an easy task.

As the clock inched to 10am, Amanda began to feel nervous. She began looking around herself wondering if the bad guys were nearby. She trusted Lee though and knew he was on top of things. She looked over at him and saw that he was checking out the others around them too. As he brought his eyes back to Amanda's, he smiled reassuringly to get her to relax. She smiled back and nodded her head slightly showing him that she was ready and could do this. At that moment a whistle was blown and the parade was in motion.

 **TBC**

 **A/N Sorry everyone. I had hoped to have this all posted by now but life has gotten into the way. I know you are waiting for the next chapter and I wanted to get it up this morning but I have run out of time. I will try very hard to finish this whole story by tomorrow night. Thanks for your patience. Thanks for all those who took time out to review. I really appreciate it and thanks also for those who have pm'd me. Very nice to get such support.**

 **NTK**


	32. Chapter 32 - Clowning Around

**Chapter 32 - Clowning Around**

The parade began moving forward but Lee and Amanda knew it would be awhile before their section would move since Parades move very slowly. Lee continued to survey the groups of people near him in hopes of seeing some sign of who might be in charge. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary though. In front of them there were floats of all kinds. Most depicted some sort of Thanksgiving theme but some were in honor of the town's sports teams and of course there were a fair share of Political floats too. Most of the balloons were near the front but the Garfield and Snoopy balloons were just a few groups ahead of them. It took nearly 30 minutes before Lee and Amanda could begin moving forward. Lee shot a look back at the President's car and noticed that they had hung a wreath in the front and there were bright red and green streamers hanging off it from all sides. Santa and Mrs.  
Claus were in the float directly behind the President's car and would be the last thing people saw in the parade. Lee had been able to dismiss that Santa float because the cab was green.

As they inched out into the crowd, Lee began his role as a clown. He noticed a young child that looked to be about Jamie's age standing looking sad so he headed to him first. He went up to the little boy and gave him a pat on the head and asked him if he wanted a balloon. The boy broke out in such a smile that Lee almost hated playing a trick on him but he didn't have any real balloons to hand out so he gave him the string and walked away. Amanda immediately jumped into her role. "HEY, what did you do that for? That little boy wanted a balloon and you just gave him a string? You come back here this instance and give him a balloon." Lee turned around and said "I gave him one, he must have lost it."

Amanda put her hands on her hips and said "Now you get back here right now or else I'm going to smack you." By this time the kids were all howling with laughter as the little woman took on the big man. Lee stuck his tongue out at her and began slowly walking away. Amanda ran up to him, quickly sat down her basket and took off one of her big shoes and smacked him across the butt. The whole crowd roared with laughter as Lee jumped around with a surprised look on his face. "What did you do that for?" He cried as he rubbed his butt. "I told you that I was going to but you didn't listen to me. You never listen to me! Now let me go take care of that child you teased." Amanda then skipped back to the boy and gave him a hug and a blow pop. As she walked away, the boy was all smiles. Amanda quickly hurried back to Lee's side and he held out his hand and the two of them began walking as if nothing happened. Along the way, Lee would take candy out of Amanda's basket and throw pieces into the crowd for the kids to try to catch. Along the way it had been prearranged to have volunteers refill the basket for them.

They continued along like this for the next hour of the parade. Their antics were a huge hit among children and adults alike and as time went by, they became more comfortable with doing the routine and were able to really over exaggerate hand motions and facial expressions which caused even more laughter. At the same time, they were able to talk to Billy and keep an eye on the parade around them. Lee was still convinced that the League intended to wait until the end of the parade and since the had just turned onto Georgia Avenue, they still had about a mile left to go. At the corner of Ellsworth and Georgia, Amanda spied her family. She motioned to Lee that they were there. Lee immediately went into his routine and picked out Phillip to tease. Amanda hoped that her disguise was good enough so that her family wouldn't recognize her. Lee approached Phillip and asked him if he wanted a balloon. "Sure he said. Wormbrain here would like one too." Before she could stop herself, Amanda said in a fake voice "Don't call your brother names" but managed not to call him Phillip. Dotty looked at Amanda with renewed interest but didn't seem to recognize her. "We are always telling him that. You should listen to this nice lady clown, Phillip" Dotty said.

"Sorry Son, I only have 1 balloon left that I can give out. Here you go" Lee said as he handed Phillip a string and then walked away.

"Hey Mister" Phillip yelled out. "You forgot to give me my balloon."

Meanwhile Jamie was laughing at the joke that was just played on his brother.

Amanda continued her role and yelled "Hey Mr. Clown, you forgot to give this nice boy his balloon."

Lee turned around and put a hand to his head and tweaked his hair as if he was thinking. "No, I'm sure I gave it to him. Son, are you sure you didn't let it fly away?"

"No, there is no balloon up in the sky. Where's my balloon?"

"Gee, I'll bet your brother took it to get you back for calling him names. You better check his pockets."

Jamie's giggles had continued. Phillip knew he had been had and began giggling too as Amanda stomped over to Lee and began arguing with him about how he played a mean trick on such a nice boy and then she took her shoe off and whacked Lee on his butt. She turned around to face her sons and covered her mouth with her hand and did an exaggerated giggle which caused the boys to cheer and laugh some more. She then scooped up her basket of candy and went over and offered both boys a chance to grab some out of the basket. Neither of them showed any recognition of her the entire time and she patted them both on the head and waved good bye. She skipped back over to Lee and they joined hands as they continued walking down Georgia Avenue.

They continued their antics during the parade and were actually enjoying it. The children were delighted with their performance and they got a lot of laughs but there was still no sign of anyone from the League and there didn't seem to be any issues with any of the floats.

The band that was just in front of the clowns had begun playing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and suddenly Lee noticed that things seemed to be happening. It was subtle at first so he wasn't sure but then he noticed that the elves had formed a circle around the President's car and were making it inch along. Suddenly Lee realized that the elves were forcing the car to leave Georgia Avenue and turn onto Ripley Street.

"Francine, what the hell is going on? Why are you turning?"

Francine broke her silence and pretended like she was talking to someone in the car when she said "You aren't really going to shoot the President are you?"

"Billy are you there? How did someone get into the President's car from the League?" Lee asked.

Suddenly 5 of the floats veered off and headed for Ripley Street also. The crowd appeared confused about the people and vehicles leaving the parade but thought there was a reason so they had stepped aside to let them go.

"Amanda! You have to get out of here! It isn't safe." Lee yelled.

Billy suddenly came in loud and clear. "Lee, we just got a phone call from TP. He finally got word from his sources on who is helping the League."

"Who is it Billy?" Lee asked just as he felt the gun push itself against his back.

"Play along agent boy. Convince the crowd that this is all part of the act and no one will get hurt." The man began guiding him toward Ripley Street also.

Lee continued to wave at the crowd but he couldn't tell who was holding the gun to his back. He looked to see where Amanda was and saw that a person dressed as a Gingerbread man was holding what appeared to be a gun against Amanda's back also. They had just turned onto Ripley Street and the crowd could no longer see them.

Billy's voice came over the ear piece at the same time that Lee was able to get a look at the man controlling him and noticed that his hand was missing.

"Lee, TP says it is Lefty. Lefty is the one who has been helping the League."

It was at that moment that everything went black as Lefty hit Lee over the head with his gun.

 **TBC**


	33. Chapter 33 - Talking to a Mad Man

**Chapter 33- Talking to a Mad Man**

Amanda was being man handled by a person in a Gingerbread costume. She had immediately felt the gun as it was pushed against her back. She had tried to call out to Lee but then noticed that he had also been grabbed. She was in shock though when she realized that it was Lefty that had his gun in Lee's back. Suddenly she heard Billy's voice in her ear telling them that TP had just told them that it was Lefty who they had been looking for. What on earth would cause such a nice man to decide to join this awful League she wondered? She soon found herself being pulled away from the parade route and was told to act like there wasn't anything wrong. She didn't recognize the voice of the person at all but she didn't dare disobey the commands. As they walked out of view of the parade watchers, Amanda saw Lefty hit Lee across the head and saw him fall to the ground. She gasped and wanted to go to him but his captor held her in place. She soon found herself being forced onto one of the floats and was told to lay face down. She did as she was told but tried to get a look at what was going on around her. The President's car had been pulled to the side of the road and a bunch of the men dressed as Elves were forcing him from the car. He got out willingly with his hands up and Amanda noticed that Francine was pushed out right behind him. There was chaos everywhere and Lefty finally whistled to get everyone's attention.

"Listen up. We don't have much time. Mr. President, welcome aboard. We intend to take you on a little ride with us to make sure that we can safely move these trucks out of the area. I'm sure you won't mind having a little scenic ride would you? I didn't think so" Left didn't allow him to answer. "In the meantime, I need everyone to settle down and focus on the job ahead of us. We still have to get out of this town and they aren't going to make it easy for us. Remember that the rewards will be worth it though. Everyone has their orders. Let's go. OH Mr. President, I'm sorry to do this but you no longer can ride in your nice comfortable car, I want you up in this cab with me so I can keep an eye on you." A man who had been with the President shoved him towards Lefty. As he was walking toward Lefty, one of the man yelled out "I don't think that is the President!"

"What?" Lefty said "How do you know?"

"I didn't at first. It is a great impersonator but look at the back of him. His hair doesn't look right and his skull isn't shaped correctly." the man explained.

Lefty was becoming angry. He rushed over to the President and pulled at his hair. The toupee came off easily and the man under it was smiling at him."

"We've been had!" Lefty said as he punched the man in the face. Amanda looked at Francine who was looking at Amanda. Francine quickly shook her head "no" at Amanda's raised eyebrow to let her know that she wasn't going to do anything yet. She was still hoping that the agency could surround the area and keep the trucks from moving.

Lefty pointed to Lee on the ground and yelled "Go get the agent. We might need him after all." Two of the men went over and grabbed Lee and roughly pulled him up off the ground by his arms. They then began shaking him until he regained conscience. Lee shook his head to clear his vision and saw the scene around him. Amanda was lying face down on top of one of the floats. He couldn't tell if she was alive or not. The man that they had hired to impersonate the President was on the ground and Francine was standing next to a bunch of men dressed as Elves. There wasn't any sign of the Agency yet but the trucks were still sitting on Ripley Street and no one seemed to know what to do.

Lefty said "Bring him over here. I'm going to have him ride with me and that pretty partner of his." Lee was shoved toward Lefty who told Lee to put his hands behind his back so he could snap a pair of handcuffs onto him and then told him to climb into the cab. Meanwhile Amanda was hauled off the float and a pair of handcuffs were put on her too but they didn't make her put her hands behind her back. She was then told to climb up into the cab and to sit down in the sleeper portion. "Don't try anything or else I might have to kill your partner" Lefty said with a sneer.

"Now now, I hope you are treating our guests well" a tall, dark haired man said as he climbed out of the President's car."

"Eduardo, I didn't see you there." Lefty said with a less confident voice.

"Please let Mr. Stetson and his lovely partner out of the cab" Eduardo requested.

Lee and Amanda climbed down to face Eduardo.

"Well it seems that you two have become my only means of having hostages in case we need to insure our safe passage out of this area. If you cooperate, we might even find a place for you in the League when this is all done."

Lee continued to glare at him while Amanda decided to use the time to try to piece together how they did it.

"So sir, it seems that you have this under control more than we thought. Great job. I don't quite understand how you were able to take control of the trucks though."

"Oh that was easy. My people bought doughnuts this morning to share with the truck drivers except the ones that went to the 5 that we needed had a little special recipe that made the drivers violently sick and of need of a constant bathroom. That left them shorthanded and amazingly there just happened to be 5 parade walkers who were in the right place to volunteer to take their place. Well of course since the organizers of the parade didn't know what was on these trucks, they were happy that this all seemed to fall into place for them. I was originally going to drive one of the trucks but it seems our good friend Officer Rogers had a change of heart and came crawling back to us last night."

Lee's head whipped around to look at the drivers and saw that one was looking at the ground so he guessed that this was Rogers.

"It left it so that I could ride along with the President and take control. Unfortunately being in the dark confines of that car, I didn't question whether he was truly the President or not and I'll give you credit on switching him. He had been so determined to be here that I fell for it."

"Sir, I still don't understand; why you are doing all of this and how did you get into the President's car anyway?" Amanda questioned.

"Awww, you are the inquisitive one in this partnership I see. Well the President has many men in his army of security officers. It just so happens that my cousin is one of them and though he is a good guy, the saying that blood is thicker than water still holds true. So when I told him how I needed to ride along with the President today because I was dying to meet him and needed to ask his help on some personal issues, my cousin never expected me to try to kidnap him and agreed to it. As to why I'm doing it? Well isn't it obvious? This United States of yours has butt your nose into our war in El Salvador. You had no business being involved but you had to go and butt in anyway so my people are now dying because of all the weapons you have provided to the El Salvador Government who just wants to control everything and make the people there work as slaves while the Government takes everything they have worked hard for. Governments are all the same, they just take and take from you and you are expecting to roll over and play dead. Well NOT this time! We will fight. We will show everyone that you don't mess with us and we will take control of El Salvador regardless of your intervention." All the men and women standing around pumped their fist in the air at these remarks and cheered."

"But Sir" Amanda pressed "This isn't the way to do it. There has to be more peaceful ways to obtain the same goals."

"Peaceful ways?" Eduardo laughed. "Governments don't listen unless you come out swinging."

"Do you really wish to harm a lot of innocent people though?" Amanda asked.

"No, they are just a causality of war I'm afraid. Which reminds me, the time is almost up." Eduardo answered. "Okay people get ready, it is just about time."

"Time for what?" Amanda asked.

"Why time for the parade to get explosive." Eduardo answered just as they felt the ground shake from several explosions.

Amanda and Lee looked at each other and Lee could see the fear in Amanda's eyes. Her family was along the parade route. What did these maniacs do?

 **TBC**


	34. Chapter 34 - The Rescue

**Chapter 34 - The Rescue**

Lee was the first to respond out loud. "OH MY GOD, what did you do? You already have the trucks and hostages. Why in the world would you endanger all those children's lives?"

Eduardo sneered at him and said "I know how your agency is, you agents are expendable. We needed a distraction to keep them busy. Don't worry, the bombs were set to go off in areas where no one should have been. There will of course be some structural damage but the people should be safe. Now on that note, we need to get moving. You, Mr. Stetson, are coming with me and your partner can ride in the back. I wouldn't want to separate you." Eduardo motioned with a gun for them to go in front of him. They found themselves in front of the truck that was pulling the Pilgrim's Feast Float. Amanda got into the cab first and went into the sleeper section while Lee awkwardly climbed into the passenger seat since his hands were still restrained behind him.

"Now be good children while I go talk to my people" Eduardo teased.

As he went out to talk to Lefty and the others, Lee said to Amanda "You need to reach inside my shirt collar. I have a lock pick there." Amanda did as he asked and then pushed the pick into his hands. In the meantime Eduardo was heading back to the cab.

"Okay kiddies, looks like we are ready to roll. Did you ever fantasize about riding in a big Mack truck?" Eduardo asked like it was an exciting adventure they were on.

Lee said in a bored voice "No, I have ridden in one before when it was for good, not evil."

"Oh Mr. Stetson, you sure are a spoiled loser aren't you. You should have a better attitude like your partner here." Eduardo reached over and rubbed his hand over Amanda's face and began looking at her chest. It made her feel very uncomfortable and she tried to get away from his touch.

"Leave the lady alone scum." Lee said.

"You sure sound tough for a guy who is going to be dead before midnight. Eduardo said. "Maybe the pretty lady likes me touching her. Maybe she is bored with however you treat her. What do you say Amanda? I can keep you alive longer if I tell everyone that you are my woman. In fact, maybe you will even enjoy it so much that you will decide to join us just so you can take the benefits of what I can offer you."

"Sir, I have 2 small children at home who need their Mother. Now I know deep down inside, you aren't really the bad person you are trying to make yourself out to be. My children won't understand if I don't come home. Surely you wouldn't want that to happen." Amanda tried to reach his moral side.

Eduardo burst out laughing "You sure are nothing like any spy I have ever met before. Oh, I would give anything to see what you would do in bed."

Lee found himself struggling not to unlock the handcuffs and tear this man's throat out. He tried to keep himself calm because even if he took Eduardo down, Lefty was still there and it would accomplish nothing. No, he needed to keep his head and wait for a better timing. He knew that Francine had faded away from the scene so he was sure she had run to find Billy. He could only hope they arrived in time before this whackos were able to leave the area.

"Don't we need to get going?" Lee asked to get Eduardo's mind off Amanda's breasts since he seemed to be fascinated with them.

"Are you eager to go Mr. Stetson? I think Amanda here is just getting warmed up. Would you care to watch as I check to see how warm she is?"

"You are a pig." Lee stated.

"A pig indeed! One that would enjoy rooting around in this body. Sadly, Mr. Stetson is right though. We do need to get going. Amanda, my dear, you have a short time to decide what you want to do. I know you will enjoy the benefits I spoke of earlier but if you prefer to end up at the bottom of a lake with your partner, then it will be both our losses."

Eduardo yelled to everyone to move the trucks out. They slowly began lumbering up Ripley Street which circled back around to Georgia Avenue. They were soon on their way up Georgia Avenue as if nothing was wrong. Lee knew that they were heading for the Capital Beltway and if they reached it, it would be difficult to stop them. That just meant that somehow he had to stop them before they got there. As they got closer to the highway, the trucks suddenly veered off to their left onto Seminary Place and pulled into Montgomery Hills Park. They pulled into the near empty parking lot and lined the trucks up next to each other. The people all jumped out and quickly began trashing all the float decorations and throwing them onto the parking lot. Underneath all those decorations, the weapons had been hidden in large crates. Now the trucks simply looked like a normal caravan carrying crates to their next destination. Lee wondered where the money was stashed but figured it must be in one of the crates. As he sat there watching them take apart the floats, he noticed a few cars had pulled up near the entrance and exit and some men had gotten out and appeared to be putting something down on the roads. Lee wasn't sure who these people were as the vehicles were unmarked so he wasn't sure if they were part of the agency or not.

Meanwhile the men had finished tearing apart the floats and each of them had changed into normal street clothes. They were now all getting back into their trucks. Lee noticed that the cars that he had seen at the entrance and exist were not there anymore. Eduardo and his crew started their trucks and the convoy was soon on its way out of the park. Suddenly there were loud pops and Eduardo's truck stopped in the middle of the exit and couldn't move but also blocked the other men from going forward. Lee quickly used the lock pick to get out of his handcuffs. Eduardo noticed just as Lee flung his body onto him and began punching him in the face and in the neck. In no time, he had knocked Eduardo out and snapped the handcuffs onto one of his hands and the other cuff was attached to the truck's steering wheel. Lee quickly went over to the wide eyed Amanda and uncuffed her.

"Lee do you think my family is okay?"

"I'm sure they are Amanda. Eduardo said that the bombs weren't set off near anyone. Billy if you can still hear me, can you please check on Amanda's family." Lee said into the flower that both he and Amanda still wore. Their ear pieces had been taken out when they were captured but no one realized that the flowers were microphones.

Lee gave Amanda a reassuring hug but then released her when he saw Jake heading his way.

"Jake! Is this your work? I should have known that I could trust you to stay on top of things." Lee said proudly as he shook Jake's hand.

"Well Scarecrow, I couldn't leave you flapping in the wind could I? As soon as Billy told me that it was Lefty and that the agency couldn't get to you in time, I had my men respond and we have been watching you since you left the parade. We just wanted to get away from the actual parade to keep them from hurting anyone. We had no idea they would pull off in here and thought we were going to have to follow you up the Capital Beltway so we were already beginning to evacuate it so that we wouldn't have anyone else involved."

"Good thinking my friend. This is why you are so good at your job."

Jake blushed at the compliment. "Thanks Lee. I'm just glad we were able to stop them." He watched as his men were able to round up all of bad guys. The last man was being brought out from one of the nature trails as they all watched. Soon everyone was handcuffed and sitting in the back of squad cars.

Suddenly the scene was surrounded by agency cars too. Billy got out of his car and could see that the scene was already secured. He walked over to them and asked them if they were alright.

"Sir, is my family okay?" Amanda said with desperation in her eyes.

Billy smiled and said "Mrs. King, they are all fine. The bombs were installed in small structures along the route like phone booths and bust stops, and they weren't that powerful so they didn't do a lot of damage. They were meant to scare and distract and nothing more. Thankfully no one was hurt."

"Oh thank you Sir. I'm so relieved."

"Well Jake are you taking these clowns in then?" Billy asked.

Jake smile and said "I can take Lee in if you want me to but Amanda is too beautiful of a clown so I just can't do it."

They all laughed at the attempt of humor after such a stressful day.

"Great job everyone. Let's go do some damage control with the media and then head back to the agency. I don't know about the rest of you but I would love to wrap up this case so I can go home and appreciate that we just saved the President and a lot of innocent people today." Billy said.

"YES Sir!" Amanda agreed. "I do have one question though. How did you convince President Reagan to give up his spot in the parade?"

Lee ran his hand through his hair and said "It wasn't easy. That man is sure stubborn. It was right down to the wire but he finally relented after we presented all the facts we knew. His security team told him that there was no way to keep him safe so he agreed to the impersonator."

"That's great. How come I wasn't told? I mean this was my case too and I was really worried when I saw that they had taken control of the car and I mean, it would have been nice to let me know that something that important had been done, don't you think?"

"It wasn't our case Amanda. We already talked about this already. It was my case. Now I appreciate all your help but remember that you are just a civilian and you just help me sometimes. I'm the Senior Agent here and it was a Need to Know situation and you didn't need to know"

Amanda jumped in and said "You didn't need to know" at the same time that Lee did because she knew that was what he was going to say. "That's not fair Lee. Now I know I contributed on this case, I helped with a lot of the research and who would have gotten your lock pick to you if I hadn't? Now I think I needed to know this time."

Billy and Jake couldn't help but exchange smiles at the two of them bickering back and forth. "Come on you two, you still have plenty of time later to continue arguing. Let's get out of here." Jake said as he put his arm over both their shoulders and steered them towards his patrol car. Billy was shaking his head as he watched them go. It really was fun watching the two of them figure out how to work together as a team. They already were building a good partnership whether Lee was ready to admit it or not and he knew it would only get better as Amanda became more confident in her instincts. He looked forward to watching her grow. In the meantime, he needed to get to the agency and get the debriefings done. Jeannie had promised him a steak dinner with baked potato, some expensive wine and then a nice relaxing time in their hot tub including a massage that only she could give. He definitely deserved it after today.

 **TBC**


	35. Chapter 35 - Debriefing

**Chapter 35 -Debriefing**

Lee sat in on the interrogation of Lefty to try to get answers from him. At first Lefty wouldn't talk but when he realized that his wife was telling her side, he decided that he had better tell his. Lee had been told that Lefty had lost his right hand in a car accident but what he didn't know was that it shouldn't have happened. Lefty's real name was Martin Grant and he grew up in a poor section of South Carolina. His dad loved taking him new places so that they could go on bike rides and enjoy seeing beautiful, scenic places together. One day when he was 15, they had gone on a bike ride along Myrtle Beach when suddenly a Police Officer pulled up with his blue lights on and demanded that they stopped their bikes. They had simply been biking so they knew they hadn't done anything illegal but they stopped and asked what the problem was. The officer had told them not to get smart and had demanded that they get down on the ground with their hands above their heads. They were a little frustrated but they did as they were asked and the officer came over and handcuffed Lefty's father. It turned out that a father and son had just robbed a convenience store down the road and the officer thought they were the guilty ones. He was a young officer with a chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove that he was the best officer ever so he was thrilled to have caught the two suspects so easily. Lefty was really upset to see his father in cuffs and demanded to know what they had done. The officer roughly pulled Lefty's father to his feet and shoved him toward the car. When he turned around to ask again what they had done, the officer shot him 3 times which caused him to spin around and fall to the ground. The bullets hit him in the chest, leg and then nicked his aorta. He bled to death before the ambulance could get there. Lefty was devastated and upset and he swore revenge on the officer especially after the call came in that the real robbers had been caught about 5 miles away. He soon began stalking the officer and trying to make him nervous about what might happen to him. In the end, Lefty followed the officer one day while he was in a high speed car chase and Lefty lost control of his car and slammed into a wall which caused his car to flip in the air and land on its side. Lefty's right hand managed to fall out as the car was flying through the air and the car landed on it. The hand was so completely mangled that they had to amputate it. Lefty's hatred of the police grew immensely after that day and deep down, he knew he wanted revenge. He lost his job since he was a laborer and could no longer lift 50 pound warehouse items. All seemed lost and then one day he saw that the Korny Klowns were hiring so he went over and begged for the job. Jared felt bad for him and gave him a chance. His plans of revenge were put on hold until the day Carl Rogers showed up and wanted lessons on being a clown. He was a horrible clown but soon he and Lefty began talking and one night they went out for drinks. It didn't take long to realize they had a lot in common. Lefty had been approached by the League earlier but he didn't have the money to join and didn't know if he wanted to. When he found out that Carl was a member, he changed his mind. He soon found out that they planned this parade mission and if Lefty wanted to pay off his membership dues, he could volunteer to take charge of it; so he did. No one would believe that Lefty would do anything bad so he had almost gotten away with it.

Lee had him sign a paper stating that his testimony was true and agreed to work on getting him a lighter sentence if he would help put Eduardo away. They then led him away to put him back in his jail cell.

Lee got up and went to Billy's office where he found Amanda just finishing her debriefing. He quickly did his own while Amanda stayed to listen and she was sad to hear about Lefty's woes. He had seemed like such a nice guy and who could blame someone for being upset that their father was killed for no good reason. She hoped that Jamie and Phillip would never have to experience her being killed just because someone decided to do it. She knew her Mother would bring the boys up without her but she hoped she would never face the day when she would have to look death in the eyes.

After Lee finished, Billy told them both that their microphones had continued to work so they also had the whole thing on tape and even though that wasn't permissible in court, it worked wonders on getting people to talk so they would use it against all the other men and women who were involved. Lefty's wife had only agreed to be a driver but had been trying to get Lefty to let go of his anger for years. She truly loved him but was scared that eventually he would end up in jail. He had given her only the very basics of why she was driving the truck so she wasn't really aware of just how much trouble she was in until the officer who was questioning her explained it to her. At that point she told them everything she knew and it looked good that she would just get probation.

As they wrapped things up, Lee offered to walk Amanda out to her car.

"Thanks for your help in the case Amanda. I'm sorry I was so hard on you. I was just worried about your safety."

"Oh that's alright. I understand." Amanda said.

"Well I know this is a busy week for you since you are preparing for Thanksgiving Day so we shouldn't need you to come in at all the rest of the week."

"That would be great. There is so much to do before Thursday and then of course Thursday will be so busy. What are your plans for Thanksgiving?"

"I'm not sure yet. I am always on the duty roster for the day. I figure that since others have families, they should be home enjoying their family time so I always volunteer to take their places. If nothing is going on, I get to sleep in and then get up so I can watch the football games in the afternoon."

"Don't you watch the parades?" Amanda asked.

Lee smiled and said "No and I think after today, it will be awhile before I'm ready for another parade."

Amanda smiled back and said "Yeah, except my family would get suspicious if I didn't watch since I love them so much. Well anyway, I wish I could invite you over but I wouldn't know how to explain you. I could make up a left over plate though and bring it to your apartment."

"Amanda, that isn't necessary. I usually just have a pizza and some beer and am totally happy." They had arrived at Amanda's car so Lee opened her door and helped her inside. As he closed the door, he leaned over and said "Happy Thanksgiving Amanda. Enjoy your family." He smiled quickly and then turned and walked away. After all these years he still found it hard to deal with the holidays. His Uncle had probably ruined them forever for him. He was glad that Amanda loved them so much and really did hope she and her family had a great day. They all deserved it. He recalled fondly how Phillip had yelled at him during the parade about being stiffed out of his balloon. Yes, Amanda King wasn't the only one with spunk, she had passed that gene right along to her boys. They were going to be great young men someday. Lee couldn't help but smile as he got in his Porsche and headed for home.

 **TBC**


	36. Chapter 36 - Reflections

**Chapter 36 - Reflections**

Amanda got home and found her family already in bed. It had been a long day so she didn't mind. She felt like she had learned a lot during this case though. Not only did she now know how to use the agency computers and could do research but she also had been able to connect the dots and find the similar connections and more importantly; she had been right. She couldn't help but smile at that fact. Perhaps now Lee would begin to trust her with the more important aspects of cases. This case had been a little scary but in the end, they had cracked it and gotten the bad guys off the street. It was interesting to see this side of things as she wondered how many times she had been in crowds where something bad was going on and had no idea since these spies did such a good job doing their work without civilians being aware that they were even in any danger.

She entered her kitchen and discovered that her Mother had cleaned everything up and made sure that Amanda wasn't left with anything to do when she got home. She smiled when she saw that the balloon string that Lee had given to Phillip was taped to the Refrigerator as a keepsake. It had truly been a lot of fun playing a clown with Lee. He could really be a lot of fun when he let himself loosen up a bit. She frowned as she realized that maybe that was why women liked him so much and maybe he just didn't show that playful side to her. Well it didn't really matter because she had gotten to see a side of Lee that she hadn't before and found that he continued to intrigue her. She made sure the back door was locked, shut off the lights and headed for bed. Her head was so full of memories of the day that she knew she was going to be awake for a while so she might as well go get comfortable so she could stare at the ceiling. As she entered her bedroom, the first thing she saw was the giant stuffed Panda Bear that Lee had given her a few weeks ago after a case. It still made her smile because it was the first real gift he had given her and it meant a lot to her. She quickly undressed and put on her night gown and then picked up the bear and carried it to bed with her. It was a comfort to snuggle it as she finally drifted off to sleep.

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Lee got home and immediately went to the bar and poured himself a scotch. He was really glad this case was done. He had really been worried about Amanda but once again she had amazed him with her courage and instincts. He sure did hate to admit it but she had definitely been a huge help in this case. He was starting to find it fun to work with her. He loved to make her blush but he also loved her laugh. When Amanda King was happy, the world just seemed right. He also couldn't believe how much he was starting to like her sons. Lee had never really been around kids before but he had begun to notice how well behaved and respectful Amanda's boys were. Oh they loved to tease each other but you could tell that they would stand by each other also. It made him wish again that he had had a brother. Some sadness of things that were never to be crept into his mind a bit but he quickly squashed them out. He had grown up just fine. He hated this time of the year though because the holidays always made him wish that things had turned out differently. There certainly wasn't much to be thankful in his life. Well that wasn't true; he had his job. It was a job that he was very good at and that he enjoyed most of the time. Still, it would be nice to have somewhere to go on Thanksgiving Day. He would never admit that to Amanda especially since it wasn't like she could invite him over but sometimes he did wonder what it would be like to celebrate Thanksgiving like a normal person.

Lee shook his head to clear those thoughts, downed the rest of his drink and then turned on the TV for a bit. He was just tired and he hadn't been out on a date in a long time. He really needed to take a look at one of his black books and see who might be fun to take out on Thanksgiving Eve. The restaurants wouldn't close up until 7pm so he could take her for an early dinner and then they could come back to his place to ring in Thanksgiving day. He would be able to send her on her way before the football games got started. Yes, that might be just the way to get through this holiday. He knew deep down that he likely wouldn't do that though. Celebrating Thanksgiving with a woman made them feel that there was something more happening and Lee wasn't ready to have any woman think that he wanted anything more than a little romp in the sheets and some temporary companionship. Maybe he should go away for some R & R. He hadn't had a vacation in quite a while and it was nearly the end of the year so if he didn't take a week soon, he would lose the vacation time. He would have to bug Billy about letting him take a week off. Hell, maybe he should push for 2 weeks. He could go to Bermuda and really have a good time with all the beautiful, sexy women there. Yes, his mind was made up, he was going to demand some time off right after the holiday. With that being settled, it was time to go to bed.

 **TBC**


	37. Chapter 37 - Thanksgiving Day

**Chapter 37 - Thanksgiving Day**

Phillip and Jamie jumped on their Mother's bed the next morning and both started talking at once before Amanda was even awake.

"Fellas, calm down. I can't understand you if you both talk at once." Amanda said as she sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Okay but I get to tell her" Phillip said.

"Why do you get to tell her? I want to tell her!" Jamie pleaded.

"It happened to me Wormbrain so I get to tell her." Phillip stated.

"Phillip how many times do I have to tell you not to call your brother names? Now tell me what?" Amanda asked.

Phillip then went into an excited version of what happened to him at the parade. Amanda sat listening to her son's excitement and couldn't help but smile. Lee had made quite an impression on her boy for sure. When he finished, Jamie jumped in said "Mom, the clown was really funny. He totally got Phillip good. I wish you could have been there to see it."

Amanda wrapped both boys into a hug and said "I know sweetheart, I wish I could have been there too. It sounds like you had a good time without me though so that is all that matters. Now how about we get some breakfast?"

Both boys yelled out a war cry and ran down the stairs to see if their Grandmother had finished making breakfast yet. Amanda smiled at her sons and was pleased that Lee had been such a hit with them. If only she could share that she had been there watching. She knew she couldn't though so she quickly got dressed and headed down the stairs after them. Her Mother had spoiled them all with blueberry pancakes and sausages for breakfast. She knew that afterward, they would need to begin Thanksgiving Day preparations so it was good to enjoy a delicious breakfast with her family before things got crazy.

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The rest of the week had in fact been really crazy. After cleaning the entire house from top to bottom, there were remaining decorations to put up along with grocery shopping to be done. On Wednesday she and her Mother spent the day in the kitchen baking all the pies and breads for the next day. They had of course invited Dean and his Mother along with Mr. Witherspoon, Agnes, Edith and several other neighbors who lived alone. Dean had called Amanda on Tuesday to say that his Mother wasn't feeling well and would not be coming to dinner. Amanda wondered if she was avoiding meeting her because she wasn't ready to let her son go. At this point, she had nothing to fear since Amanda hadn't accepted Dean's marriage proposal and wasn't sure if she ever would. She couldn't tell Dean's mother that of course but she had a feeling that if she did, the woman would suddenly have a miraculous recovery.

By the end of the day, the Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Pecan Pie and Cherry Pies had all been baked and were safely in the refrigerator. They had also made up sweet rolls and cinnamon rolls, along with corn bread, homemade cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and glazed carrots. The stuffing had been mixed up and was ready to be stuffed into the turkey as soon as they got up in the morning.

By the time everything was prepared and the kitchen was cleaned up, both women were exhausted. Dotty took a hot toddy to her room so she could relax with her latest romantic book. Amanda found herself standing outside her back door looking up at the stars. She wondered what Lee was doing and if he was truly happy spending the holiday alone. She was sure he really wasn't but he would never admit it. She made up her mind that she would prepare a plate for him and deliver it to his apartment. After all, no one should be alone on Thanksgiving or left to feel alone. With that settled, Amanda shivered from the cold November wind and went back inside her warm, cozy home. The kids would expect her to watch the parade so she decided it was time to get to bed so she could get up early.

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The next morning seemed to come too soon and Amanda got up to finish preparing the turkey and get it into the oven. A short time later the rest of the family was up and they came down the stairs yawning. Everyone had cereal for breakfast since dinner would be early. The kids turned the tv on and soon the whole family was sitting close together to watch the parade. When the clowns came on, the boys quickly decided that they were not nearly as funny as the two that had been in the Silver Spring parade. It made Amanda smile to hear the boys still gush about her and Lee. The family enjoyed watching the rest of the parade and then the boys went out to shoot some baskets while Dotty and Amanda finished the dinner preparations. At noontime, Dean came to the house and joined the boys at the basketball hoop. After 20 minutes, he left them to come inside to see if he could help with dinner; knowing that by then it would be well taken care of and he wouldn't have to help. He gave Amanda a quick hug and a peck on the cheek and told her that the house looked great. She smiled and thanked him for the compliment and told him that he looked good too in his blue plaid shirt and new jeans. It still didn't occur to Dean to tell Amanda that she looked good most of the time. He was so socially inept that he forgot most of the time. Amanda was used to it though.

Soon the neighbors began arriving and each of them had brought more food. Mr. Witherspoon brought several bottles of wine for the adults and soon everyone was sipping on some of it. The dinner was fabulous and everyone complimented both women on their cooking and baking abilities. They even toasted them. The biggest compliment though was that everyone ate too much and felt like they could barely move. Everyone but Dotty and Amanda settled into the living room to watch the football game that was just starting. Amanda and Dotty packaged the food back up and put it into the refrigerator before joining them. The Detroit Lions were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everyone would have preferred to have their beloved Redskins playing but they would root for the Steelers. During half time the ladies went into the kitchen to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen. Amanda couldn't help but look out her window a few times in hope of seeing Lee but was relieved he didn't show up since it would be hard to sneak away with all her company there. The game didn't go well and the Steelers lost horribly to the Lions with a 45 to 3 score. Everyone was a little bummed until Amanda said it was time for dessert and that seemed to cheer everyone back up. Soon huge plates of pie were being served and everyone sat around happily discussing all the things they were most thankful for. Dean of course said he was thankful to have Amanda in his life while Amanda said she was thankful for her new job and meeting new people. Of course she talked about her pet sitting service not her real job of working for the agency. Dean pouted a bit that she hadn't said she was thankful for him but she squeezed his hand and smiled up at him and soon he forgot that it had bothered him. Dotty said she was thankful that school was back in full swing so that the house didn't get messed up as much as when the boys were home. Phillip said that he was thankful that the Bombers seemed to be finally done with their losing streak and Jamie said he was thankful that he got Mrs. Norris for a teacher and not Mr. Brent who everyone said was mean. The rest went around the room and shared their thoughts and then everyone thanked Amanda and Dotty for opening their home and welcoming them all to Thanksgiving Dinner. It was getting late so everyone began saying their goodbyes and headed home. Dean made no real attempt to leave and Amanda wanted to deliver the plate to Lee so she told him that she was pretty tired and asked if they could call it an early evening. He pouted again for a moment but then agreed that it had been a long day. After a quick hug and kiss, he thanked her again for a lovely day and headed to his car. She watched him drive away and then hurried into the kitchen. She took out a few Tupperware containers and filled them with a little bit of everything. She even filled one with a small piece of each kind of pie since she wasn't sure what his favorite was. Her Mother was in the living room doing one of her crossword puzzles so Amanda yelled out that she would be back in a bit but needed to deliver something to a friend. Dotty was so engrossed in her puzzle that she just said "Okay dear." and Amanda was gone before she realized what had just happened. She shook her head wondering what her daughter was up to now.

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Lee had hoped that the agency would call him in but his phone had remained silent all day. The night before he hadn't bothered with asking anyone out but had gone to Monks where he knew he would be close if the agency needed him and be out among people that he was familiar with. The place was nearly empty so he found himself talking to a barmaid named Colleen. She wasn't at all his type but she was nice and she was friendly and that was all he really wanted at that moment. She had a family at home but had agreed to work that night because she needed the money. Lee enjoyed his dinner and had a couple of drinks until the place was closing. He then threw a $50 tip down for Colleen as he headed out to his car. She was a nice woman and he felt bad that she had to work on the holiday instead of being home with her children. He then went home to his lonely apartment and turned on the TV. He was happy to find a few old movies on that he had always enjoyed and after pouring himself a scotch, he sat down and watched them and tried to drown out his loneliness. Hell maybe he should have gotten a woman over for the night, it would beat being alone. It was too late now though so at 11pm, he shut off the TV and went to bed. As he was trying to fall asleep, he wondered what it would be like to be invited to Amanda's for dinner. He knew he couldn't go but maybe it would be fun to act like a normal person for a change. Thankfully sleep finally came to him and he managed to sleep until 7am. He got up and took a shower and brewed some coffee. He never ate breakfast so instead he turned on the TV and watched the early morning news. As he sat drinking his coffee, the Parade began on the TV. He decided that he might as well watch it. As he sat watching the clowns joking around, he couldn't help but smile at the routine that Amanda and he had done during the parade and thought that their act was much funnier than what he was seeing in this parade. She was definitely different from any woman he had ever met. She had guts and logic and intelligence and she was beautiful. Wait, did he just think that? Yes, Amanda King was beautiful inside and out. He hoped that she was having a good morning with her family.

At lunchtime, he found that there was still a frozen pizza left in his freezer from when Alexi was there so he threw it in his oven and had it for lunch along with a beer. Soon the football game came on and he settled down for what he hoped would be a good game. Unfortunately the Steelers couldn't seem to get out of their own tracks and lost horribly to the Lions. Lee shut the TV off with disgust and picked up a magazine and began looking through it. What the hell was wrong with him? He usually was fine on Thanksgiving Day by himself. He never lacked for anything to do and he had never sat and wondered how others were celebrating the holiday but today he couldn't seem to find anything to make him happy and as the day dragged on, he found himself pretty miserable. He didn't even have anyone he could call. If he called Billy, he would get lectured about how Jeannie, like always, had invited him to dinner and he had turned her down. If he called Francine, well that would just be weird. He certainly couldn't call Amanda. This day had become one of the worse Thanksgivings he had ever endured. As it became closer to dinner time, he wondered what he could eat but he didn't really have anything else in the house. He really didn't feel much like eating anyway. Maybe he would go out and take the Porsche for a drive. He wasn't sure he could do that without it finding its way to Arlington though. As he sat there stewing, suddenly his doorbell rang. Now who in the world could be there to see him today of all days? Lee got up and opened the door and there stood Amanda.

"NOW I know you said you didn't want me to but I've gotta tell you Lee that no one should be alone on Thanksgiving and no one should go without a Thanksgiving meal so I just brought you a few things. Can I come in?" Amanda asked.

"Oh Sure, sure" Lee said as he opened the door wider so she could enter his apartment. She quickly went to his kitchen and moved stuff aside so she could put the bag of food on his kitchen table. She then began unloading the sack and called out each item as she did so. "So here is some turkey and dressing and this is homemade cranberry sauce that my mother made and this is green bean casserole and these are glazed carrots and this is sweet potato. I wasn't sure what you liked for bread so I bought you some of each and the same with the pie. I'm sure there has to be something there you like." As she turned around she couldn't believe the huge grin on Lee's face.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"No, really, what?" she insisted.

"You! You are amazing Amanda King. I can't believe you brought me all of this."

"Well when you told me that you were going to be all alone on Thanksgiving Day, I said to myself that no one should be alone. Of course I couldn't invite you to my house so this is the best I could do."

"And you left your family to come here?" Lee asked.

"Oh we already had our dinner and counted our blessings. I needed to come here before you had something else for dinner. I hope you like everything." Amanda had put the items that needed to be heated onto a tray that she had brought and stuck them into Lee's oven while she prepared the rest of the meal for him. She took the warmed items out of the oven and put them on the table with the rest of the food.

"Well come on, sit down and eat before everything gets cold." Amanda insisted.

Lee sat down and began helping himself to one of the best meals he had had in a long time. Meanwhile Amanda began getting ready to leave. "No, please don't leave yet. Stay and keep me company." Lee said.

"Okay." Amanda agreed. They then sat and talked about the weather and the Steelers losing and then their talk went to their clowning around at the parade. They both laughed at the memory of how much fun it had been even during such a stressful time. Lee was soon stuffed full of Amanda's food and didn't have room for pie but promised he would enjoy it later.

As Amanda began repacking all her empty dishes into the bag, Lee grabbed her hands and turned her to look at him.

"Amanda, I just wanted to thank you for today. I don't know if I have ever had anyone do something so nice for me before. I really do appreciate it." He said sincerely.

Amanda smiled her big smile and said "I was happy to do it. I was worried that I was going to come here and find that you had company and be embarrassed about bothering you."

"No, no company and you didn't bother me at all."

"Well I guess I better be going. My family will wonder where I am. Hopefully I'll see you soon." Amanda said as she lifted the bag and headed for the door.

"Yeah, thanks again" Lee opened the door and watched Amanda leave. As he rubbed his very full stomach, he realized that he had his own blessing this year. One moment in time at a train station seemed to change his whole world and it seemed to be for the better. He went back into his living room and turned on the TV. He felt a little less lonely for some reason. Maybe he didn't really enjoy being a lone wolf so much after all.

 **TBC**


	38. Chapter 38 - Conclusion and Tag

**Chapter 38 - Conclusion and Tag**

Lee went back to the agency the next day with a smile still on his face. Francine of course noticed right away and corned him.

"Did you get lucky for Thanksgiving?" she asked him.

"Francine, you wouldn't understand."

"Oh, one of those girls that are way too young for you huh? Well you better be careful that her daddy doesn't come looking for you afterward." She goaded him.

Lee laughed and said "Not even you are going to ruin my good spirits today Francine." Lee made his way into Billy's office.

"What's going on Billy?" Lee asked.

"Nothing right now. How was yesterday? Did you find some company to share it with?"

"No, not really" Lee said. He wasn't ready to let Billy know that Amanda had brought him food.

"Well the good news is that Agent Stewart is going to make it. I went to visit him this morning on the way to the office and he is awake and even got to have some turkey yesterday."

"Oh that's great news. Amanda will be so happy to hear that."

Billy smiled at the fact that Lee's first thoughts were of Amanda when he heard this news. When else did he think of Amanda, he wondered.

"Well there isn't much going on today so you might as well get your reports in order and take off for the weekend. If you happen to see Amanda, let her know that at this time, there isn't anything going on so she can take a few days off too. I think she mentioned that one of her sons was going to having a birthday next week so I'm sure she would enjoy the time off."

"That sounds good. Thanks Billy." Lee got up and headed out the door. As an afterthought, he turned around and said "Did Jeannie take good care of you for Thanksgiving?"

"Jeanie always takes good care of me, Lee. You need a woman who will do the same for you." Billy said with a smile.

"Awww Billy, I don't think I'm ready to settle down but maybe if I could find a woman like Jeannie I would reconsider. Do you think Jeannie would be interested?" He winked at Billy as he walked out the door with Billy chuckling as the door shut behind him. A couple of hours later his work was all caught up and headed out the door to his car.

As he got in, he found himself being pulled to Arlington. It was broad daylight so he crept around to the back hoping that the neighbors didn't see him. He looked into Amanda's kitchen and saw that she was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee while reading a newspaper. He quietly knocked and she looked up and smiled at him. She opened the door and told him to come inside. Her Mother had taken the boys out shopping since this was the best day of the year to shop before Christmas. Amanda had chosen not to go because her foot was still a little sore and she had been on it a lot to prepare for Thanksgiving so she didn't want to be in the craziness of Black Friday. She quickly poured a cup of coffee for Lee and added a little cream and suggested he sit down.

"So what are you doing over here today? I thought you would be at the agency." She pondered.

"Oh I was earlier. There's not much going on though so I finished my reports and Billy told me to go home. He told me to tell you that next week might be a slow week too so there might not be anything for you to do. But you know that changes daily. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and let you know that Agent Stewart is doing much better and it sounds like he will probably be released soon."

"Oh that's great news." Amanda said with obvious happiness in her voice.

They sat drinking their coffee, just enjoying being in each other's company.

"Amanda, I just wanted to thank you again for thinking of me on Thanksgiving. No one has ever done that before and it meant a lot."

"Oh, it really wasn't anything Lee. The food was already cooked and we had plenty. I was just glad that you weren't mad at me for dropping in on you after you specifically told me not to."

Lee chuckled and said "The one thing I can always count on is that Amanda King will never obey anything I tell her to do."

Amanda smile and said "Well, I try Lee but there are just some things that you have to break the rules about."

"Why Amanda King! You are not a rule breaker, you are a rule follower. Am I corrupting you?"

Amanda chuckled and said "Well maybe just a little."

"Well I did appreciate it and I also wanted to tell you something else."

"What's that?" Amanda asked.

Lee blushed a little and said "Well I just wanted to tell you" He paused as he struggled to find the right words. "Well it's about your work" Another long pause as he continued to search for the right way to say it.

"Go ahead Lee, what about it?"

"Well it's just that I know that in the past I was fighting against having you as a partner."

Amanda leaned closer to hear this better. "Yes, go ahead."

"Well it's just that now I am finding that ..."

At that moment the front door slammed shut and they heard "Amanda are you here?"

They had both been so involved in their conversation that they hadn't heard the cab pull up front dropping off her family. Amanda quickly pushed Lee out the back door as he told her that he would talk to her soon. She scrambled to put the coffee cups into the sink knowing that she would have to tell her Mother that one of the neighbors had dropped by if she asked why there were two cups.

"I'm in here Mother" Amanda said.

"Oh hi Dear. You wouldn't believe how crazy people are shopping on this day. You would think their lives depending on getting that new TV set."

"What did you buy Mother?"

"Oh just a few Christmas presents for you and the boys. Nothing too special but I saved a few dollars. How about you, did you have a good morning while we were gone?"

"Yeah, it was okay." Amanda said.

"Good Dear. Well the boys went to the park. I'm going to go hide these packages and then I'm going to take a nice, long, hot bath."

"Okay Mother. Enjoy yourself" As Dotty headed up the stairs, Amanda couldn't help but sigh. What rotten timing. What was Lee going to tell her? Was he finally going to admit that he liked having her as a partner, that he actually considered her to be his partner? She let out another sigh.. Whatever he was working up the courage to say didn't get said and she had a feeling it would be a long time before he would work up the courage to try to say it again."

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Wow, was that a close one. He almost told Amanda that he liked having her as a partner. What the hell was wrong with him? He began lecturing himself as he drove the Porsche back to his apartment. "The woman brings you a nice Thanksgiving meal and suddenly you lose your head and your mind and begin telling her things that leave you vulnerable." Thank God that Dotty came home when she did and interrupted him. He really needed to get his head together. Yes, he definitely needed a nice long vacation in Bermuda. He was determined to find the right time and request that Billy give him the time off so he could go. Amanda King was getting just a little too far into his head and it was time to get her out again. A nice trip to Bermuda, some beautiful women and sandy beaches was just what he needed. He was sure of it.

 _ **AND the story continues in "Saved by the Bells"**_

 **A/N Well I had hoped to finish posting this yesterday to celebrate 33 wonderful years of SMK but it didn't quite happen. I know they will never read this but thank you Bruce and Kate for always making my day a little brighter when I watch an episode of SMK and for making me believe in fantasies. This show is so amazing and inspires me every day.**

 **Thank you to all of those who "follow" me and my stories and "favorite" them and support me in any way. I especially want to thank Pam and Cindy who are the best cheerleaders ever and make my day with their comments, reviews and PM's.**

 **This story took longer because there is much that is historically correct and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't putting in false information. The El Salvador Civil War really did happen and the US really did take the Government's side which caused likely many innocent people to be killed. There really were Guerilla forces in El Salvador otherwise known as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front. The League Montebank did not exist though, I made that up. As I mentioned Kapital Klowns are a real thing and are a great group out of the area as they make kids and adults smile alike with all their volunteer work. There really is a Silver Spring Thanksgiving Parade held the Saturday before Thanksgiving and most of what I described really is in the parade and that really is the parade route, all those streets really do exist. There really is a Silver Spring Police Department though the characters surrounding it are in my imagination. The Lions and Steelers really did play that Thanksgiving Day and 45 to 3 was really the score. I hope by using a lot of history that it made the story a little more realistic.**

 **Thanks again and on to the next one!**


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